Recent news shows that the nation continues its downward trend in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. However, despite these encouraging statistics, America now faces an uptick in mental health illnesses caused by years of stress, anxiety and fear fueled in part by an unrelenting pandemic.
The U.S. Worker Edition of the Mental Health Index recently compared current percentages of mental health cases to pre-pandemic percentages, and the findings are disturbing. A global study researching the universality of mental health issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic calculated that during 2020, major depression rose by approximately 53 million cases and anxiety disorders by 76 million cases. Results from a random sampling of 500 American workers show that a quarter of workers continue to suffer with PTSD and that cases of depression have also escalated, rising 87% since the fall of 2021. These statistics mark a 136% and 63% increase, respectively, since the start of the pandemic. In addition, a March 2022 report found that throughout the pandemic, after every surge in COVID-19 cases, mental health emergency room visits increased exponentially at a rate higher than during COVID illness surges or prior to the pandemic.
