Covid's affect on mental health rates.
The COVID-19 global pandemic affected people much more detrimentally than what most people are aware of. People all over the world found themselves isolated in their homes due to the lockdown, and it has since impacted their social ability, stress levels, and overall mental health. Ever since quarantine began, the World Health Organization found that anxiety and depression diagnoses had increased by 25%, and this is no small matter.
How did COVID impact people's mental health?
The reasons behind why people started struggling more with depression and anxiety are no big surprise, so let's look at some causes for both depression and anxiety and see how they correlate to the impacts that COVID had on people.
Causes - what can lead to depression? Let's look at the most common causes related to depression as of today:
An enlarged amygdala leading to an increase in emotions, specifically sadness and anger.
Social isolation or a lack of social support.
Struggling to deal with a major loss, such as a death.
Major life events that induce stress, such as graduations, weddings, and global crises.
Serious illness, which in some cases can trigger depression.
How do depression and the pandemic correlate?
After looking at the causes of depression, we can pretty quickly see some correlations to the pandemic. A majority of people, due to the lockdown, became more isolated and withdrawn from society after COVID, which led to some developing depression. We can also see how major, stressful events, which became even more stressful due to the use of social distancing and travel regulations, can lead people to feel extremely overwhelmed and, in some cases, lead them to develop depression.
Causes - what can lead to anxiety? Let's look at the most common causes related to anxiety as of today:
Loss of a job or being out of work.
Feeling lonely, isolated, and withdrawn from society.
The loss of a loved one.
Large amounts of unexpected, and often unwelcome, change.
How do anxiety and the pandemic correlate? Just like the correlations of depression, we can make some relatively obvious connections between anxiety and the pandemic. We can see that in both cases of depression and anxiety, isolation is a leading cause and was also a major impact of COVID-19. We can also see that when people are faced with lots of change in their lives, it can dramatically increase their stress levels and therefore cause anxiety. With the pandemic changing the structure of the world we now know today through more travel regulations, the increased use of masks, and even how people work their jobs, people had to undergo numerous changes during COVID.
In conclusion.
After looking at the causes for both depression and anxiety and relating them back to the pandemic, it becomes pretty apparent why mental health was heavily impacted by the lockdown. Even as of now, people are still struggling with the lasting impacts that the pandemic has left on them and have yet to recover. Unfortunately, the recovery process is not an easy one for either depression or anxiety, and the two clinical disorders can affect a single patient for six to eight months, or even years in the case of anxiety.
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