Mental Health Spirals Downhill At The Face Of A Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to drastic widespread changes in social behavior. People spend far more time alone inside their homes than out socializing with peers. With that being said, a majority of one's interactions solely occur over social media or other places on the internet. Anxiety is increasing in individuals as a result. With a large amount of free time it is easy to overthink and stress over situations out of one's control. Being anxious comes from several factors including financial stability, an influx of family time, not having contact with significant others, etc. This pandemic has given the gift of anxiety and caused mental issues for the masses.

Social distancing and masks makes it increasingly difficult to interact with others. Masks have the power of making people unrecognizable, which causes everyone to hold very few conversations with others in the short periods of time they are seen in public. To be deprived of social contact leads to the destabilization of oneself. Many people define themselves based on the crowd they interact with. That being said, social distancing guidelines, as well as the severity of the virus, have caused many to lose connection with the ones they used to never spend time apart from. When there is an extended period where one is in the absence of peers, such as many since spending over one year in quarantine, it is very common for social anxiety to develop. The long term effect of this pandemic on society's mental health will likely be detrimental.

There are a tremendous amount of consequences that have resulted from the pandemic and the poor impacts they reflect on young adults are detrimental. An article posted on KFF titled, The Implications of COVID-19 For Mental Health and Substance Use, found that, “Throughout the pandemic, anxiety, depression, sleep disruptions, and thoughts of suicide have increased for many young adults. They have also experienced a number of pandemic-related consequences – such as closures of universities, transitioning to remote work, and loss of income or employment – that may contribute to poor mental health. KFF analysis of the Household Pulse Survey finds that throughout the pandemic, a large share of young adults (ages 18-24) have reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder – 56% as of December 2020 – compared to older adults,” (KFF). This study provides evidence that a large percentage of people are battling major mental health issues at the moment and given that the pandemic is still not over, it is likely that these issues will continue to persist even after the pandemic has subsided. Some will likely experience cases of PTSD as a result of being stapled to our bedrooms for over a year now. The repetitive cycle of defeat as the virus progressed and society delved deeper into this hole of unknown set the standard that nothing but disappointment and diminished mental health were going to be the leading factors of the virus.

Ensuring that you are getting exercise, eating well, taking time to focus on self-care and mental health, and looking into ways to stay positive through these challenging times, can be key components in lightening the internal effects Covid-19 has sprung upon us.