Strange Times: How a Pandemic and its Repercussions Impact Mental Health
On Tuesday, March 10th, my housemates and I received an email from Rutgers University officials confirming our suspicions: due to the Coronavirus outbreak, classes would transition into remote instruction after the oncoming spring break and dorm residents would need to move out. We lived in off campus housing, meaning that we technically weren’t required to leave. But the immense anxieties of a sudden pandemic weighed heavily on us. Within the next few days, six of my nine housemates found themselves packing their bags and heading home.
Five days later on my 22nd birthday, the reality had set in. Instead of spending time with my friends at school as I had initially planned, I found myself at home, watching the news roll out all sorts of new information on the soaring Coronavirus cases in my state. I hadn’t moved out of New Brunswick, but I was beginning to lean towards the idea. Two days later, I made the difficult decision to move my belongings back home and live with family.
While returning home and seeing my parents, little siblings, and dog provided comfort, the state of the pandemic and political turmoil over the following months brought forth challenges. As March turned into April, then April into May, symptoms of anxiety and depression amplified, especially in the nights. Adjusting to remote learning mid-semester was stressful, and I found myself becoming detached to my schoolwork.
On top of that, all of my summer internship applications were being ignored and rejected. This all happened as the news grew increasingly morbid with COVID-19 cases skyrocketing. Night after night, I found myself laying in bed motionless with racing thoughts. Will the virus get me? Will I flunk out of school? How will I graduate? How will I land myself a career?
I wasn’t the only one struggling with the abrupt transition to pandemic life. According to my talk therapist, Dr. Ed Callaghan, PhD, who is the Director of Child Services and co-founder of the Integrative Therapy Institute of NJ, many patients who were once performing great in school were now facing significant challenges. Mental health struggles in students have been exacerbated as a result of the sudden lifestyle changes, and Dr. Callaghan had noticed an influx of people seeking help.
“We’ve definitely noticed an increase in the number of people wanting to schedule appointments. It’s pretty clear there’s been a greater number of people looking for therapy,” Dr. Callaghan said. “There’s been a lot of students struggling with depression, and definitely anxiety as well. A lot of people are struggling with drive, motivation, and organization problems.”
Reports of academic grades falling as a result of online learning have trickled in throughout the year. Schools and colleges are facing pressure to acknowledge this issue and figure out a way to solve it. Some colleges, like Georgetown University and George Washington University, have implemented pass-fail grading methods at their schools, while others like Howard University continue to refuse the option despite growing online petitions. Rutgers University president Jonathan Halloway announced a “pass/no credit” option for students in an email back in November, according to Rutgers University’s The Daily Targum.
College students aren’t the only ones grappling with online learning. Grade schools are also dealing with higher rates of failing students. In Salt Lake City, Utah, for example, junior high school and high school students just about doubled F grades compared to last year’s grades, while elementary school students had tripled F grades in the past year.
Dr. Francesca M. Maresca, PhD, the director of Health Outreach, Promotion and Education at Rutgers Student Health, had noticed an uptick in students seeking help when I spoke with her in October, right around the middle of Rutgers University’s fall semester.
“We are just now again seeing a slight increase in numbers,” Dr. Maresca said. “We’ve reached the midpoint of the semester, and with the election going on, people are feeling that as well.”
While the novel Coronavirus had raged on throughout America in 2020, an incredibly controversial election season continued on as planned. The political tension surrounding the election between President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden divided communities and made families butt heads, igniting ideological warfare within households. On top of that, the recent police killings of Black Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor led to a passionate response from both Black Lives Matters supporters and counter protesters, sowing more division and fracturing more families. The pandemic itself was even politicized, with Republican politicians downplaying the severity of COVID-19.
Dr. Stephen Kilianski, PhD, who is a Social Psychology professor at Rutgers University, emphasized how this ideological polarization can contribute to significant problems in people’s daily lives.
“Close friendships and even family bonds have been severed over these issues, leaving people deprived of the invaluable social support they need,” Dr, Kilianski said.
He highlighted that these stressors that add to mental health complications also have physical consequences. “These effects are not just emotional; levels of stress hormones are increased, sleep disruptions occur, immune systems are stressed, alcohol and drug abuse become more likely and physical health problems become an increased risk.”
Research has shown major increases in alcohol and drug abuse during the ongoing pandemic and its accompanying financial crisis, as well as a correlation between mental health struggles and substance dependency. People often turn to alcohol and drug use in an effort to cope with challenges. In October, both the CDC and NCHS released statistics showing a 16% increase of drug overdose deaths in the first three months of 2020 when compared to 2019. Seven states have reported overdose rates increasing over 25% in 2020 when compared to the same time frames in 2019.
Institutions meant to help those suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction have had to adapt to regulations that enforce social distancing, making it harder for those suffering to reach help. Groups like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous have had to switch to virtual gatherings, which older members have struggled adjusting to. Earlier in the pandemic, supervised drug-use centers (also known as harm reduction clinics) which provided clean needles, as well as fentanyl and naloxone test strips (which help drug users prevent overdoses and plan out rehab visits), were forced to either shut their doors or tighten their hours.
Suicide rates have also increased during the pandemic. The CDC held a survey with over 5,400 respondents over the summer and found that one in ten surveyors had seriously considered committing suicide in the past month. Compared to 2018, the amount of people considering suicide had about doubled. For people aged 18 to 24, one in four had reported considering suicide.
While social distancing is important in order to control the spread of the novel Coronavirus, it is also important to acknowledge how it can impact mental health negatively. Dr. Kilianski stressed that physical proximity and socialization are important for mental health.
“It is well documented in research literature that physical affection, especially for young children, is critical to healthy psychological development. However, touch is also important to adults and has a plethora of beneficial effects. When deprived of it there are undesirable effects on emotion,” he said.
Dr. Callaghan also noted how social distancing has made many common ways people relieve stress unavailable until further notice since they’re in social settings.
“Typical activities that help people to maintain their mental health have been taken away. People can’t go out to movies, restaurants, or spend time with family, and they’ve become more generally isolated.”
Dr. Maresca pointed out that one who is mentally struggling as a result of social distancing can explore other options to fill their social cravings.
“You have to be physically distant, but you don’t necessarily have to be socially distant,” she said. “We have all the technology we need to connect, and we urge people to do that. There are ways to be with people physically: maintain six feet, wear masks, and wash our hands. If we can do those things, and follow the basic rules, we can actually be around people which could alleviate the repercussions of social isolation.”
Unfortunately, social distancing isn’t the only major side effect of living through the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu. Along with COVID-19 came the worst global recession since The Great Depression. This is making it increasingly difficult for many Americans to survive and put food on the table, creating a hunger crisis.
Unemployment rates for Americans ages 16–24 jumped from 8.4% in Spring 2019 to 24.4% in Spring 2020. Younger Black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans had even higher unemployment rates. Both unemployment and poverty are known to increase the likeliness of mental health struggles.
Americans are now using food banks at unprecedented levels. In cities across the nation, massive lines of cars and people have been growing outside of food banks as many no longer can afford groceries. Feeding America, the non-profit network of Food Banks across the United States, estimates that by the end of 2020, more than 50 million Americans will be facing hunger, up from 35 million Americans in 2019.
Hunger can cause severe mental health decline, aggravating symptoms of anxiety and depression. Hunger has been connected to poorer mental health, greater mental distress, depression, and lower cognitive function. Physical symptoms of hunger, like lower physical activity and poorer physical health, can also in turn impact mental health negatively. In children, hunger can also impact school attendance and performance, mental development and psychosocial function.
America is going through a dark, unparalleled, and traumatizing period of history. It is important to realize this. Dr. Maresca identified one remedy that can at the very least alleviate the severity of one’s mental health struggles in these strange times: self compassion.
“Exercise some self-compassion. This is hard for everybody. We have to be kind to ourselves. We are not in the same place we were last November. And we need to be more forgiving to ourselves.”
