Pandemic taking a toll on Americans’ mental health
Feelings include loneliness, anxiety and stress, poll says
OAK PARK, Ill. — Americans are feeling isolated and anxious. They fear they or their loved ones will get sick. They worry about their jobs.
As the coronavirus pandemic upends lives across the United States, it’s taking a widespread toll on people’s mental health and stress levels, according to a recent survey that finds a majority of Americans felt nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless in the past week.
“It’s just so overwhelming, the fear and anxiety,” said Julie Hitchcock, 49, of Milwaukee, who had pneumonia last fall. She spent two weeks on a ventilator and 10 weeks away from her job, only to be furloughed because of the coronavirus shutdown shortly after resuming work full time.
Her furlough ended in late April. She rides city buses to and from her job at an international education nonprofit, and that drives her fears that she could get sick or unknowingly have the virus and infect someone else, who then might end up on a ventilator.
The poll conducted last month is the first wave of the COVID Impact Survey by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation. The survey aims to provide an ongoing assessment of the nation’s mental, physical and financial health during the pandemic.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans said they felt nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless on at least one of their past seven days, the poll found. For each of the four emotions, close to 2 in 10 Americans said they felt that way on three or more days. Fourteen percent said they felt reactions such as sweating, becoming nauseous or hyperventilating when thinking about their experience with the pandemic.
But the survey also found bright spots: About onefifth report more frequent texting, phone calls or online contact with friends and family.
The survey found women more likely than men to say they had felt at least one of the distressful emotions in the past week, 71% to 56%.
Emotional distress was especially common among younger adults. Some 81% of Americans younger than 30, along with 70% of those age 30 through 44, report feeling nervous, depressed, lonely or hopeless at least one day in the past week. That compares with 62% of those age 45 through 59 and 48% of adults 60 and older.
Physical distancing, the lack of predictability, economic upheaval and the inability to mourn the death of loved ones in traditional ways all are taking their toll, said Dr. Karestan Koenen, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“We can’t do all the normal stuff,” Koenen said. “It feels like we’re more alone.”
She said stress among parents is high whether they work from home or have to leave because “all the things parents worked to set up in their lives have been taken away from them” as schools and day cares closed. They’re worried about their children staying on track in school and that they’re safe and happy, Koenen said. She advises people to stick to a schedule and seek help if they’re feeling overwhelmed.
Phil Schmitter, pastor at Christ the King Catholic Church in Flint, Michigan, spends much of his time talking to shut-in and vulnerable parishioners. Some members of his predominantly African American parish have been infected with the virus and some have died; others worry about how they’ll pay bills.
“I’ve found that people are really struggling and they’re getting more and more angry,” Schmitter said. He said he has been “talking people down” by phone or on Facebook.
“They’re stressed out and finding it hard to sleep, they’re afraid to go out for groceries,” he said. Many are feeling cut off because they used computers at now-shuttered libraries to get news or research health care and other benefits.
Overall, 65% said they are communicating with friends and family by phone, text, email or online “basically every day” in the past month, compared with 54% who said they did that in a typical month. Another 24% said they are in touch a few times a week.
Barbara Hanc, 69, of Dudley, Massachusetts, is a widow who lives alone with three cats. She said she is grateful for good friends and neighbors who provide emotional support and virtual companionship.
“Just reaching out and talking to somebody makes you realize you’re not alone. There are people who love, support and care for you,” she said. “I have to look at it as, ‘This situation is temporary’ and I’m setting my sights on the future.”
The survey of 2,190 adults was conducted April 20-26 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3 percentage points.