According to new research, getting Covid puts you at greater risk for developing a new mental health condition. In this study more than 18% of Covid patients developed mental health problems – including anxiety and depression, substance use disorders, and sleep problems – compared to 12% of those who never contracted the virus.
It’s no wonder why. A Covid diagnosis could spell death – it has for nearly six million people so far. A positive Covid test also means time off from work, which means loss of income for many. And even for those who are eligible for Covid supplemental paid sick leave, you can’t be sick for too long, or the pay stops.
For those who get hospitalized with Covid, the stressors only continue. With understaffing already a chronic problem in hospitals, now only made worse because of the pandemic, patients aren’t always receiving proper care. Plus, many healthcare workers themselves have PTSD because of Covid, if they didn’t already have it because of difficult working conditions. With visitor restrictions in place at many hospitals, numerous Covid patients have had to endure their sickness alone. But the problems don’t end if you make it out of the hospital – the medical bills will be waiting.
To add insult to injury, we were already in the middle of an opioid crisis, with deaths of despair (e.g. suicides, overdoses) also on the rise. In fact, the U.S. has the highest rates of these kinds of deaths among developed nations, and because of this, U.S. mortality (death) rates are increasing.
We were already a society in a crisis. Dealing with Covid is like rubbing salt in the wound.
