# Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19



## Animediniol (Sep 26, 2017)

Experts have raised concerns about COVID-19’s intersection with mental health since the start of the pandemic, especially among individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions. Individuals with mental health conditions have more chronic medical conditions that increase their risk for contracting severe COVID-19 compared with individuals without any mental health condition.

A significantly greater percentage (2.7%) of patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis experienced a new onset of mental health condition following their COVID-19 diagnosis compared to patients who tested negative for COVID-19 (1.0%) or had a COVID-19 symptom (1.4%).

Among patients who experienced a new onset of mental health conditions, the most common types were anxiety (70-75%) and major depression (31-33%). 

During this difficult time, it's important to continue looking after your physical and mental health. This will not only help you in the long term, but it will also help you fight COVID-19 if you get it.


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## Frank M (Jul 28, 2021)

Animediniol said:


> During this difficult time, it's important to continue looking after your physical and mental health. This will not only help you in the long term, but it will also help you fight COVID-19 if you get it.


Agree 100%

A perfect opportunity to start those physical and mental exercises and challenges many of us have been putting off for too long.

In my case it’s been paying dividends. I archery hunted, on my feet, for 12 hours Sat and 7 hours Sun at 9200 to 9800 elevation before breaking camp and driving home. I wouldn’t have been able to do that 2 years ago.

You can control one item to beat COVID-19 and most other respiratory diseases: be healthy


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Humans are social species. Being cooped up inside without physical contact with other humans, I believe is where the mental health issues begin. Some people just don't know what to do with themselves. Yes... You need to not only exercise your body, but your brain and mental awareness as well.


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

It varies depending on where you live. Some places take a more relaxed position and other places are pretty draconian.

I live in a draconian place, essentially, it's not one of the "free" states. There are higher mental health issues in this state than in UT...


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

I think focusing on mental health is always important and some people have definitely struggled during the last 18 months. But I believe some of the worries of the last year were proven unfounded.

Suicides actually went down, by 5%, not drastically up as some forcasted:









U.S. Suicides Declined Over All in 2020 but May Have Risen Among People of Color (Published 2021)


Despite dire predictions, the number of suicides fell by 5 percent over all. Still, smaller studies suggested the trends were much worse among nonwhite Americans.




www.nytimes.com





That is a unusual positive change given suicides had been increasing noticeably each year since 2000. Understanding why could take a while but overall not the doomsday outcome so many in the "anti-" *__* (insert whatever Covid policy you prefer) were predicting.

Crisis hotlines saw an initial spike which does indicate at least an acute spike in mental health struggles/crises. The good news is we have better resources than ever and people are using them. Not only that but the increase use of crisis hotlines is inversely related with suicides which means the systems/resources are having a huge impact. So if you are experiencing a mental health crisis use them, like this these:


















Mental health crisis hotline calls increase in Utah during pandemic


Calls to mental health crisis hotlines have increased markedly in Utah during the coronavirus pandemic even as mental health-related hospital visits decline and the suicide rate appears flat.




www.ksl.com






And as data highlights, if a Covid-19 diagnosis correlates with a high likelihood of mental health diagnosis than one of the safest options is to get vaccinated and follow safety protocol. We have a proven safe set of vaccines and even one that is fully approved as of yesterday. We are lucky to live in an era in which scientist and medical professionals (not to mention gracious volunteers that were part of the trials) that made this possible. Use the tools available to avoid to he double whammy of infection and mental health side effects!

And if you want to be a good ally to those susceptible to struggling with mental health issues or who already are please take the time to understand the full range of WHY these acute or chronic episodes happen. They are rarely outcomes of a single variable in lifestyle and often involve compounding, multifaceted events that require understanding both medical history and interpersonal events. Treat those people with compassion, ask questions and be very reticent on offering unsolicited advice beyond seeking professional guidance. Most of us will never understand what informs these episodes but outside professional help is almost always beneficial. And kind friends and family who focus on listening is a light in the dark. 

Best of luck and take care of yourselves and your community.


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## CAExpat (Oct 27, 2013)

> Suicides actually went down, by 5%


I would like to see that broken out by age, I wasn't able to find the data on the CDC website. 

Overdoses involving JUST opioids killed nearly 50,000 in 2019, I wonder what they were in 2020, as i'm sure the national events and drug abuse were strongly correlated in 2020 and not tied directly to suicide.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

It's important to clarify, drug overdoses aren't inherently or definitively classified as suicide on any year. Therefore the interest in relationship to opioid overdoses isn't as clearly related to the mental health topic at hand. The physical addiction of drugs is better classified as a physical health epidemic if my conclusions from reading are accurate. And accidentally overdosing is a complex phenomena.

To the broader point, the trend before 2020 was increasing year over year regarding total suicides. That has never been specifically about addiction or overdose, but the definitions stayed the same either way. Something happened in 2020 that broke that trend and actually decreased suicides by a substantial amount. That's a mental health win and runs grossly contrary to the counter-Covid culture's fear mongering during most of 2020.

My understanding is middle and high school age mental health did see a spike in diagnosis and interventions but I have yet to fact check that claim.

I would guess overdoses went up as well as substance use in general seems to have risen in 2020, if alcohol and canabis are an accurate indicator. But that's a guess as I haven't seen data either direction directly related to drug overdoses in 2020.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Looks like drug overdoses spiked across the board, both in type and demographics.









The Drug Overdose Toll in 2020 and Near-Term Actions for Addressing It


The CDC data show that overdose deaths climbed above 93,000, with 28 states seeing overdose deaths increase by more than 30 percent.




www.commonwealthfund.org


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Teen mental health claims were dramatically up in 2020:









Teens' mental health claims skyrocket in pandemic







www.cidrap.umn.edu


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## Animediniol (Sep 26, 2017)

backcountry said:


> Teen mental health claims were dramatically up in 2020:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, there are numerous studies all reporting the same trends: a dramatic rise in mental illness and suicide. This is particularly true for children and teens.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Mental health diagnoses for teenagers, yes. That should be a concern. But diagnoses = seeking treatment = healthy choice even if not proactively. 

Suicide was actually down in totals for 2020 despite more than a decade of year over year increases. It would be great if they could tease out teenage suicides from the article's "self harm" totals as the "self-harm" category is very broad in the mental health field. I wouldn't be shocked if teenager suicides did increase despite a drop in the national totals (teenagers experience different life stressors than adults; for example, I'd make an educated guess that stimulus monies decreased economic uncertainty for a lot of families which contributed to suicide reduction in adults). 

The nation definitely needs to address teen mental health as 2020 is an exemplary one but the problem has been increasing for years. Some of that can be attributed to the ACA requiring equitable insurance coverage for mental health but I'd wager the increase in diagnoses goes beyond that change in access to treatment. It's ultimately not shocking that March and April 2020 proved to have such significant increases in claims as millions of students were forced into socially challenging changes and sadly many returned to dysfunctional homes. We've never fully admitted how much of a safety net schools provide for many minors. If I understand correctly, domestic violence reports also escalated in early parts of the pandemic which undoubtedly led to trauma for kids in such homes.

Very complex situation that needs to be addressed. A return to in person classes or a hybrid schedule would likely decrease some of these diagnoses yet that remains a challenging public health matter on its own. No easy answers on this one.


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## CAExpat (Oct 27, 2013)

> Very complex situation that needs to be addressed


Which means it won't be. 



> A return to in person classes or a hybrid schedule would likely decrease some of these diagnoses yet that remains a challenging public health matter on its own. No easy answers on this one.


Very easy in my opinion, get the kids back in the **** classroom. Period. What we've done to our children in the name of "safety" is absolutely inexcusible given the KNOWN data we have. Wait until the mental health stats start rolling in for 2021 and beyond.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Have you seen the hospitalization data for minors back east and down south the last few weeks? It didn't need to be that way if we had done a few things differently like:

1) masking wasn't a culture war and students largely masked
2) larger portions of Americans vaccinated to protect those who can't
3) more schools had monies to invest in revamping HVAC filtration

But sadly masking is a culture war issue, anti-vaxxers are a strong contingent that kept rates below ideal numbers and many schools didn't invest in filtration. So now schools are reservoirs for the variant whose R0 is something like 4-8x more contagious than the original strain.

Like I said, no simple answers given our nation's choices.


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## APD (Nov 16, 2008)

backcountry said:


> I think focusing on mental health is always important and some people have definitely struggled during the last 18 months. But I believe some of the worries of the last year were proven unfounded.
> 
> Suicides actually went down, by 5%, not drastically up as some forcasted:
> 
> ...


It does take a toll on people's mental health. A co worker of mine struggled with depression for years and it finally got the best of him this week.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

I'm so sorry to hear the APD, I hope you have the chance to talk with someone (loved one or professional) yourself and console the family in whatever way you prefer. I know of one person who committed suicide in the last year. I wasn't close with them but it takes a toll nonetheless. I wish you and the surviving community the best in the days, weeks and months to come.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Good report from Utah on mental health metrics during 2020 (compared to 2019). TLDR: Utah faired well and didn't see a major spike in mental health crises nor a correlation with any public health measure.



https://coronavirus-download.utah.gov/Health/COVID_Mental_Health_Report_.pdf


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## alaska (Mar 22, 2020)

backcountry said:


> Looks like drug overdoses spiked across the board, both in type and demographics.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Dang, this is really bad news. I think all of this results from overstress.


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## Animediniol (Sep 26, 2017)

alaska said:


> Dang, this is really bad news. I think all of this results from overstress.


It is indeed stressful. ngl


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## Animediniol (Sep 26, 2017)

But not all cases. some people are just hopeless because of their personal problems like wife cheating, or any other personal matters.


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## Rasster (7 mo ago)

I think that in most cases, people do not tolerate self-isolation well. The lack of social contacts - as well as many physical contacts that we are used to with people close to us - hugs, kisses, violation of personal space ... This can also be considered a kind of isolation.


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