By Sesa Graham
Covid-19 has not only been a physical and financial burden but a mental one too. Covid-19 did not only make society physically ill but very much so, mentally. As the pandemic continues to change people’s lives worldwide, they are left feeling stressed, confused, scared, nervous about what to expect in the upcoming months. Whether you are worried about yourself, friends, family, or coworkers, there is no getting past the fear of becoming sick with the coronavirus.
Letting yourself bask in the anxiety of this outcome can affect sleep patterns and eating routines, seriously impacting your mental health. Numerous situations can negatively affect your mental health during this time, such as financial loss, grief, isolation, rising numbers, social gatherings, etc.
After much time in lockdown or isolation, social anxiety has become a part of people’s everyday lives.
A Law Enforcement Officer, Danielle Sierra, shared her struggles, not having a pre-existing mental illness but feeling negative emotions during the pandemic. “I was fine, and then when Covid hit, that’s when I feel like my mental health kind of went down. It is slowly getting better, but my mental health did decline. I started getting depressed because things were closing down, and we weren’t going anywhere, and I just felt like life was not normal at all.”
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, according to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Sierra said that she did have a few friends in her circle commit suicide. She believes a lot of it was due to the increase in depression, and because she is in law enforcement, other officers have said that overdoses have increased.
A KFF Health Tracking Poll from July 2020 found that most adults report negative impacts on their mental health and well-being, such as difficulty sleeping or eating, increases in alcohol consumption or substance use, and worsening chronic conditions, due to worry and stress over the coronavirus. History has revealed that the impact of disasters on mental health outlasts the physical implications, suggesting that even after the coronavirus outbreak, mental health needs will continue.
Ryle Schumacher, a restaurant manager, diagnosed with depression for the last four years, communicated just how intense the pandemic has affected his mental health. Schumacher expressed, “Right before Covid-19, my mental health was not great. I would say I felt a lot of depression coming on months before the pandemic hit and even some isolation, if you will, working 80 hour weeks during the holiday season before.” Schumacher shares that the hardest part for him was financial. A large sum of his salary was commission-based, so the money stopped coming in after lockdown, even after restaurants were allowed to resume business.
It has been a brutal year and a half since the coronavirus outbreak sent shockwaves through the United States economy. While the labor market seems to have recovered a bit and stock market losses have reversed, many Americans are continuing to face financial hardships.
Schumacher said that the cherry on top for him was unemployment because he filed in March 2020 and didn’t receive any money until October. Like Schumacher, many people received unemployment months after filing or still have yet to receive anything leaving them feeling stressed, anxious, and worried.
Despite not losing their job, employers have had to reduce their employee’s hours or cut pay due to the economic decline from the pandemic. The International Labour Organization estimates working hours lost in 2020 were the same as 255 million full-time jobs, leading to $3.7 trillion in lost labor income.
Sierra and Schumacher are two examples of people who fought through the hardship of Covid-19 and are on the brighter side of things now, a year and a half later. While many find themselves happier and feeling normal again, others are still struggling.
Jane Ostrowski, an Assertive Community Treatment nurse for a local community mental health organization, expressed what exactly her position consists of and how she feels that Covid-19 has affected her consumers, a term that is given to those seeking services from community mental health. Ostrowski expressed how Covid-19 has impacted her mental health, “I have more stress, more anxiety. Anxiety because of the uncertainty of what the outcome of this pandemic is going to be.” Working with people with persistent and severe mental illnesses, Ostrowski expressed that during Covid-19, she and her co-workers have had to change the way they deliver care. A lot of their consumers were contacted via phone and not personally. She stated, “I saw a major decline in several patients, and we also had an increase in inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations.”
With such a vast number of overdoses in the months of Covid-19 taking over, it would be evident that there would be an excessive amount of help, right? While so many people struggle with substance abuse, most of those who need treatment are not receiving it. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the demand and need for treatment have increased.
2020 was deemed the deadliest year in America’s history, not only due to Covid-19 but for substance abuse due to the all-time high of drug overdoses. Jane Ostrowski said that coupled with the loneliness of isolation, we have seen the number of substance use disorders (SUD) increase. Although national data is not yet available on substance use, addiction, and overdose for 2021, estimates predict alarming trends partially influenced by the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This article may be clear that Covid-19 was a disastrous storm on physical and mental health. Individuals have found themselves financially burdened, trying to catch up, wanting to get help, not receiving the proper support, or simply wanting normalcy to come back. The advice Danielle, Jane, and Ryle could give to those who feel their mental health decreasing was to ask for help, rekindle old relationships, find a passion, go outside, exercise, get enough sleep, diet, and put your mental health first. Covid-19 may have taken a lot from us, and it still is, but we have each other, and during these times, we need to come together and help those around us.
Resources that Help:
National Suicide Prevention Helpline: Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Crisis Text Line: Text “HELLO” to 741741
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Referral Helpline: Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
Help Through Delta College: https://sites.delta.edu/collegeinfo/CounselingAdvising/SitePages/Counseling.aspx
