Have you felt anxious lately? Stressed? Chances are if you have been aware of the present pandemic you have. There have been many outbreaks around the world for decades, all extremely dangerous leaving a path of destruction behind and the psychological side effects can be just as detrimental.
A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that spreads across a whole country or the world. Outbreaks bring death, quarantine, hurts the economy, and more. The hidden problem that is not discussed during pandemics is the effects on people mentally, almost as if it was its own pandemic. Some of these reactions can include stress, fear, lack of motivation, anxiety, sleep disturbance, etc. These are usually caused by the isolation from others and the toll of the many losses.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a perfect example of how isolation affects people. The article, “Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional results from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study” describes a study done on people in the UK. This study discovered that 49-70% of people felt more isolated and lacking companionship since the quarantine started. Then the authors explain, “Our findings suggest that supports aimed at improving emotion regulation, sleep quality, and increasing social support may be the most impactful for mitigating the mental health impact of the lockdown and that interventions should focus on those people most at-risk for loneliness prior to the lockdown.” (Groarke). This means that we should be focusing on mental health support just as much as we are focusing on the actual disease.
Trying to support mental health should be largely considered because of certain actions sufferers may take. In the article, “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020”, the article states that the percentage of people seriously considering suicide increased during the pandemic. “Suicidal ideation was also elevated; approximately twice as many respondents reported serious consideration of suicide in the previous 30 days than did adults in the United States in 2018, referring to the previous 12 months (10.7% versus 4.3%).” If pandemics last as long as the Covid-19 pandemic has lasted then supporting mental health must become a priority.
Looking at these problems historically the 1918 influenza is most related to this. The Covid pandemic and the 1918 flu are related to each other because of the high mortality and morbidity rates. In the article, “The Spanish Flu Pandemic and Mental Health: A Historical Perspective” the author talks about historical demographer Svenn-Erik Mamelund, who found that the numbers of patients committed to asylums and rates of suicide and mental health problems all increased. “Looking at asylum hospitalizations in Norway from 1872 to 1929, Mamelund found that the number of first-time hospitalized patients with mental disorders attributed to influenza increased by an average annual factor of 7.2 in the 6 years following the pandemic. In addition, he pointed out that Spanish flu survivors reported sleep disturbances, depression, mental distraction, dizziness, and difficulties coping at work, and that influenza death rates in the United States during the years 1918-1920 significantly and positively related to suicide.” (Eghigian). This suggests that once the present pandemic ends the mental health pandemic will continue for years after.
Another great example of mental health during a pandemic stems from a collection of short novels written by Katherine Anne Porter called, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”. One short novel, in particular, titled “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”, gives an in-depth experience of the psychological damage a pandemic creates. The author lived through the 1918 influenza pandemic and wrote this semi-autobiographical novel about it. The main character, Miranda, suffers from influenza and feels empty, lonely, and disappointed. Once Miranda recovers she still feels empty and suffers from poor mental health. This is a great historical example of the toll an outbreak can take on mental health and as sufferers of the present pandemic, we should prepare for these types of feelings.
I conducted a survey among people in CT to gain more information about how the current pandemic has affected mental health. I posted the survey on social media and had family members/ friends send it to as many people as possible. Altogether there were 67 respondents, ages ranging from 18 to 62.
- 67.2% of people have been going to work during the pandemic
- 67.2% report that the pandemic worsened their mental health
- 77.6% report feeling more anxious or stressed since the outbreak started
- 56.7% report feeling more lonely since the outbreak started
- 53.7% report more symptoms including little motivation, paranoia, and sleep disturbance
I had also left an open forum at the end of the survey for responders to add anything they felt was necessary. Several respondents reported that online school had created more stress:
Most notably was the healthcare workers feeling underappreciated and overworked:
Respondents also described their other reactions to this pandemic:
The fact of the matter is, disease pandemics bring pandemics of anxiety, stress, and mental illness. Something needs to be done to control mental health problems just as there are things being done to stop the spread of disease. What can you do to help stop the spread of dangerous mental health problems during this outbreak?
Works Cited:
Strong, Philip. “Epidemic Psychology: a Model.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 28 June 2008, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11347150.
Eghigian, Greg. “The Spanish Flu Pandemic and Mental Health: A Historical Perspective.” Psychiatric Times, 28 May 2020, www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/spanish-flu-pandemic-and-mental-health-historical-perspective.
Groarke, Jenny M., et al. “Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Results from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study.” PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 9, Sept. 2020, pp. 1–18. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239698.
Czeisler, Mark É., et al. “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic – United States, June 24-30, 2020.” MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 69, no. 32, Aug. 2020, pp. 1049–1057. EBSCOhost, doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1.
Porter, Katherine. Pale Horse, Pale Rider. Harcourt Publishers Group, 1990.
Image one: “Dr. Deb.” May 2017, 1 Jan. 1970, drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2017/05/.
Image two: Minn, Cindy. “The Next Pandemic: Mental Health – EdSurge News.” EdSurge, EdSurge, 30 May 2020, www.edsurge.com/news/2020-05-30-the-next-pandemic-mental-health.
Amazing, I learned so much