Duren's Clinic Pharmacy Logo

Get Healthy!

'Psychological Distress' Has Tripled in U.S. During Pandemic, Survey Shows
  • Steven Reinberg
  • Posted June 5, 2020

'Psychological Distress' Has Tripled in U.S. During Pandemic, Survey Shows

COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on Americans' mental health, a new nationwide survey shows.

Overall, psychological distress more than tripled between 2018 and this spring -- from 4% of U.S. adults in 2018 to 14% in April.

Beth McGinty, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said the findings, from a survey of 1,500 adults, suggest the need to prepare for a wave of mental illness once the pandemic passes.

"It is especially important to identify mental illness treatment needs and connect people to services, with a focus on groups with high psychological distress including young adults, adults in low-income households, and Hispanics," McGinty said in a university news release.

The survey used a scale to gauge feelings of emotional suffering as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression.

It found that distress was especially acute among younger adults. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 24% reported feelings of distress this spring, compared to 4% in 2018, researchers found.

Lower-income households also were keenly feeling the impact of the pandemic. Distress rose from less than 8% in 2018 to 19% in homes with a yearly income of less than $35,000, the survey found.

And 18% of Hispanics reported psychological distress in 2020, up from 4% in 2018.

Among Americans age 55 and older, psychological distress nearly doubled between 2018 and April -- rising from nearly 4% to over 7%.

"The study suggests that the distress experienced during COVID-19 may transfer to longer-term psychiatric disorders requiring clinical care," McGinty said.

The findings were published online June 3 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

For more about the pandemic and mental health, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, news release, June 4, 2020
HealthDay
Health News is provided as a service to Duren's Clinic Pharmacy site users by HealthDay. Duren's Clinic Pharmacy nor its employees, agents, or contractors, review, control, or take responsibility for the content of these articles. Please seek medical advice directly from your pharmacist or physician.
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay All Rights Reserved.