What is Cause and Effect Depression Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic?

 Question: What is Cause and Effect Depression Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic?

Solution:

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn have had a detrimental impact on many people's mental health and raised additional obstacles for those who still suffer from mental illness or drug abuse problems. Approximately 4 in 10 adults in the United States have recorded anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms since the pandemic, a share that has remained relatively stable, up from one in ten adults who reported these symptoms from January to June 2019.

If the pandemic progresses, ongoing and necessary public health efforts expose a growing number of people to situations that are related to poor mental health outcomes, such as loneliness and job loss.

Concerns about mental health and drug use have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns about suicidal ideation. In January 2021, 41% of adults reported anxiety and/or depressive disorder symptoms, a percentage that has remained relatively constant since spring 2020. According to a survey conducted in June 2020, 13% of adults reported new or increased drug use as a result of coronavirus-related stress, and 11% of adults reported suicidal thoughts in the previous 30 days. Suicide rates have been that for some time and could escalate as a result of the pandemic. Drug overdose deaths spiked from March to May 2020, coinciding with the start of pandemic-related lockdowns, according to early 2020 data.

Adults in poor general health appear to experience higher rates of anxiety and/or depression than adults in good general health, as they did prior to the pandemic. 1.2 The already high probability of developing a concurrent mental health condition in people with chronic disease could be increased by their susceptibility to serious illness from COVID-19. According to a recent survey, 18% of people who obtained a COVID-19 diagnosis were later diagnosed with a mental health condition including anxiety or mood disorders. Seniors are also more susceptible to serious coronavirus disease and have shown higher levels of anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

Prior to the current epidemic, there were high rates of mental illness and drug abuse, but mental distress during the pandemic is not surprising. Prior to the pandemic, one out of every ten adults had anxiety or depressive symptoms. Nearly one in every five people in the United States has a mental disorder. Over 48,000 Americans died by suicide in 2018,3 and nearly eleven million adults recorded serious thoughts of suicide in the previous year on average between 2017 and 2018. Furthermore, as a result of the opioid epidemic, drug overdose deaths were four times higher in 2018 than they were in 1999.

The pandemic has likely impacted mental health in a number of ways, including widespread social isolation as a result of necessary safety steps. Social alienation and depression have been linked to poor mental and physical health in a large body of study. Even before the pandemic, the widespread experience of isolation had become a public health problem due to its connection to a shorter lifespan and a higher risk of both mental and physical illnesses.

Previous epidemics also caused widespread depression and resulted in new mental health and drug abuse problems. If the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, various groups are at a higher risk of mental illness and will have difficulty getting the treatment they need.

Many young adults have experienced heightened anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and suicidal thoughts as a result of the pandemic. They have also dealt with a slew of pandemic-related effects, including university closures, shifts to remote jobs, and loss of income or employment, all of which could wreak havoc on their mental health.

Job loss may result in other negative mental health effects, such as drug use disorder, in addition to increased anxiety and depression. The high unemployment rate during the previous recession was also linked to a rise in suicides. According to a KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in mid-July 2020, a higher percentage of households experiencing income or job loss reported that pandemic-related worry or stress caused them to experience at least one negative effect on their mental health and well-being, such as difficulty sleeping or eating, increased alcohol consumption, or increased anxiety.

Many schools and childcare centers in the United States have closed and switched to virtual instruction for at least some time to help slow the spread of coronavirus. Children and their parents are experiencing constant uncertainty and changes to their everyday lives as a result of these closures. During the pandemic, research revealed questions about children's and parents' mental health and well-being. Many parents of school-aged children, for example, are even more anxious than they were before the pandemic about their children's emotional well-being.