Hammer Hits Hard – But the psychological burden of a

But the psychological burden of a coronavirus pandemic seems far greater than the massive trauma of the past, says Catherine Ettman, a graduate student in public health at Brown University and author of a study published in the current issue of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Open Network. And in another study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-August, a significant number of Americans reported mental health problems during the pandemic – including depression, anxiety, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts. Like other consequences of the pandemic – medical and economic – the study concludes that mental health consequences will be disproportionately severe for those who started with less social support and fewer financial resources. In reality, depression and other mental health problems expose people to all kinds of physical health problems, which in turn affect their ability to work and maintain social relationships. And people with low incomes, small economies and people who have been severely affected by the pandemic – for example, loss of employment or death of a loved one – are more likely to bear the burden of these symptoms. A June JAMA study found that adult Americans are experiencing increasing psychological stress and loneliness during the first months of the pandemic. Pandemic-related trauma includes constant fear and anxiety about becoming infected, pain caused by illness or loss of loved ones, and the economic impact of the pandemic. “Mental problems are at the heart of the disease,” says Mr. Galea. But as cases of IAD-19 continue to rise in the United States and the pandemic remains uncertain, Americans are under constant stress and don’t know what to expect,” “he” says. When a population experiences a traumatic event such as a pandemic or natural disaster, researchers usually expect mental illness to increase during the weeks and months following the event. “Almost every major disaster I’ve studied has a sense of human resilience – people come together,” “he” says. Walking the streets of New York during a pandemic is an echo of the loneliness and isolation that many Americans feel as they struggle to cope with the virus that has caused many injuries – there is no end in sight. In addition, some of the public health measures needed to protect against the virus have deprived us of the most effective way to deal with stress, Everly explains, a social bond within the community. From a psychological perspective, this is the easiest thing we can recover from,” says George Everly, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the research. Nearly a quarter of people in the U.S. suffer from symptoms of depression, according to a study published Wednesday. “The second pandemic, I think, is not coming alone, it’s already there,” Everly said.