Updated: Dec 7, 2022
It’s fair to assume that we’ll all be able to look back on the year 2020 and remember who we were with, what we were doing, and how we felt when the world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many, the pandemic brought moments of insecurity, fear, and hopelessness. But for others, the effects were much more severe and long-lasting. So much so, that new reports have surfaced about individuals experiencing something called post-COVID-19 PTSD.
If there is such a thing as post-Covid PTSD, can we blame it for the mental health crisis that the United States is facing in 2022?
Well, the mental health crisis in the U.S. has actually been a raging war on Americans long before COVID-19 came into the picture. In fact, the numbers for mental health-related issues have been on the rise for nearly 20 years now. From 2004 to 2019, the United States saw a steady annual increase in the number of suicides committed each year. The U.S. also saw a consistent increase from 2011 to 2022 in the number of Americans who would confess to haven seriously consider suicide at some point. And perhaps even more shocking was the report that psychological distress among 18-25-year-olds had increased by 75% between the years 2008 and 2017.
It’s clear that the mental health crisis in the U.S. has unfortunately been on the rise long before Covid came into the picture.
But just because COVID-19 can’t be solely blamed for the ever-increasing mental health crisis in the United States, doesn't mean we shouldn’t attribute it as a very large accomplice to what we’re seeing in 2022.
The World Health Organization found that Covid triggered a 25% increase in anxiety and depression among individuals worldwide. The most heavily hit by this increase were women and young people. NCHS statistician, Sally Curtin, reported that phone calls made to suicide hotlines were up 800% during the pandemic.
So yes, Covid had a negative contribution to the nation's mental health crisis and left many Americans worse off than before.
But what is post-Covid PTSD? And what can someone struggling with this mental ailment do to combat it?