Medical Director Dr. Jessica Chaudhary discusses the connection between COVID-19 and rising suicide rates and what can be done about it.
She also discusses how the pandemic has highlighted the importance of behavioral health to whole-person health.
The stress frontline healthcare workers experienced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond has been well documented.
However, less well-known is the effect the pandemic is having on a different group of frontline healthcare workers: mental health professionals.
People in America have shared that the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health.
However, in spite of the many additional stressors that they felt in 2020, including social unrest, a tumultuous election and a declining economy, there wasn’t a corresponding increase in people seeking mental health treatment, according to the inaugural State of the Nation’s Mental Health report.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our mental health is becoming well-known.
In a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 40 percent of American adults reported symptoms of anxiety and depression due to pandemic-related stressors. Social isolation, job loss, added parenting stress and general upheaval can all explain the added pressure.
Adjusting to the “new normal” during this past year’s pandemic may leave us wondering what exactly is considered unhealthy.
Regarding child and adolescent mental health, the line between typical developmental behaviors and those that require professional help can be difficult to discern even in the best of times—which means monitoring for unhealthy behaviors is that much more important during the ongoing public health crisis.
The year 2020 will be one to go down in the history books.
People worldwide have experienced upheaval to a degree not seen in decades. As we begin to return to a more normal pattern of life, the long-term effects of this experience are becoming known.
We’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel as Americans start to get the COVID-19 vaccine. With it comes the hope that we can return to a life we once knew – a life of engaging with people – at work, at play and beyond.
Highlighting an interview with the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), Beacon Health Options posted a blog in September about the potential impact of COVID-19 on suicide rates in the United States.
The blog pointed out that suicide data from 2018 — the most recent we have on suicide trends — can tell us little about anything today, such as a reaction to the pandemic, making it difficult to inform prevention efforts.