According to a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), about 45% of adults in the United States (US) have said that their mental health has debilitated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the very beginning of this pandemic, there has been and still is a lot of uncertainty regarding what society is going to look like and what members of a society should be doing to help combat it. Many individuals’ lives have been impeded which has added further stress to the mix.

The first population that is experiencing a high impact on their mental health are frontline workers, especially in healthcare. They are the ones that have seen the most frightening side of COVID-19 and are being supported the least. Many healthcare workers have been very transparent regarding personal protection equipment (PPE) shortages and the lack of training that they have been provided when being placed to work in COVID-19 units. The next biggest factor that has caused them further additional stress is when people say that “they signed up for this.” No, they did not. Healthcare workers signed up to help and treat people in the units that they were trained for, not to be thrown into a situation, blindsided, and without the proper equipment to keep them, and their families safe. It will take many healthcare workers quite a while before they will be able to be relieved of the post-traumatic stress and anxiety that was caused by the way they were treated and are still being treated during this time.

The first population that is experiencing a high impact on their mental health are frontline workers, especially in healthcare. They are the ones that have seen the most frightening side of COVID-19 and are being supported the least.

Many healthcare workers have been very transparent regarding personal protection equipment (PPE) shortages and the lack of training that they have been provided when being placed to work in COVID-19 units. The next biggest factor that has caused them further additional stress is when people say that “they signed up for this.” No, they did not. Healthcare workers signed up to help and treat people in the units that they were trained for, not to be thrown into a situation, blindsided, and without the proper equipment to keep them, and their families safe. It will take many healthcare workers quite a while before they will be able to be relieved of the post-traumatic stress and anxiety that was caused by the way they were treated and are still being treated during this time.

The second population that is currently experiencing an impact on their mental health are most likely adults that are older and/or adults that have pre-existing health conditions because they have to take extreme precautions in order to stay safe. Most likely, this means that they have to decrease if not completely stop interactions with others such as friends and loved ones.

The lack of social interaction may lead to heightened anxiety and depression. For those that may not necessarily be of older age, but have preexisting health conditions that position them at greater risk from having complications of the coronavirus, mental health is also of concern. According to KFF, there is research proving that those with chronic illnesses or preexisting conditions may already be at a greater risk of developing a mental health disorder, and the situation with the pandemic will only increase those chances because of the precautions they have to take in hand with the self-isolation.

Another population of adults that should definitely not been left out of the mix is adults that have kids at home and are trying to balance homeschooling with either working remotely or job loss/loss of income. A statistic from the Department of Labor showed that “5.2 million people filed for unemployment benefits during the week of April 5, bringing the four-week total to a historic 22 million people filing for unemployment.” Especially during this time, when it is harder to receive unemployment benefits and parents are also having to homeschool their children and monitor them to make sure that they are doing what is needed to be done, anxiety and depression can definitely pop up.

While many providers and mental healthcare workers have transitioned to teletherapy there are still many obstacles that need to be solved. Other mental healthcare services are seeing a shortage right now because of the need that is being requested. There are many burdens that have formed since the beginning of this pandemic and there is no knowing how long they will last.

References
(1) Panchal, Nirmita, Rabah Kamal, Kendal Orgera, Cynthia Cox Follow @cynthiaccox, Rachel Garfield, Liz Hamel, Cailey Muñana, and Priya Chidambaram. “The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use.” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 21, 2020. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/.
(2) Ibid.

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