3 ms·
The sun is shining, the vaccines are flowing, I can eat inside now, I am feeling optimistic today. But on my grey days: I wonder how long the mental health tra
by perardi 6y ago
The sun is shining, the vaccines are flowing, I can eat inside now, I am feeling optimistic today.
But on my grey days: I wonder how long the mental health trauma of all this will last. Besides school-age depression, there was a noticeable uptick in drug overdoses. (https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/16/as-pandemic-ushered-in-isolation-financial-hardship-overdose-deaths-reached-new-heights/ https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/16/as-pandemic-ushered-in-i...) And, anecdotally, I have several friends and acquaintances who developed severe drug issues during the various stages of lockdown. I fear there’s going to be a lot of dark matter out there, and we won’t detect it until we see the knock-on effects for years down the road.
This is not an anti-lockdown screed, I feel like I must say. My dad went into the ICU for something non-COVID in December, and the hospitals then were at the breaking point. (At least where I was.) We needed to control this virus somehow. But we will be feeling this for a long time to come.
- dj_mc_merlin 6y agoWhen times become hard, people turn to drugs, depression and religion. The wave will die down with the virus.
- alibarber 6y agoSurely this is a bit of a tautology - like, 'when viruses are endemic, people will suffer from breathing dificulties, pneumonia, low oxygen count and in some cases death'. The idea is, like with COVID, we do something about it. Also no one turns to depression or drug abuse any more than they turn to being admitted to an ICU.
- dj_mc_merlin 6y agoI definitely developed a drug issue during COVID. I wouldn't say I had no choice in it like the people admitted to the ICU. Boredom can predispose you to things, but the choice does lie with the person. Making it seem like the choice is not in your sphere of power makes it only harder to quit. What I said does not apply to depression.
- cpach 6y agoMaybe it will. But depression and drug abuse can have very long-lasting effects. For example losing a job or becoming homeless. It can be very hard to recover from that.
- _huayra_ 6y agoExactly. A cold or covid may be temporary, but the snowballing effects that happen when one falls "off the wagon" (drugs, homeless, hard to hold down a job, etc) do not magically recover when the pandemic is over. I only wish that the US would see the huge ROI of investing in its citizens (i.e. by ensuring they are healthy, housed, and educated enough to find their path in life) and act accordingly.
- croes 6y agoLong lasting effect like COVID. Just google long COVID kids.
- xenihn 6y agoI'm still traumatized by how difficult it was to find a job after college in the wake of the great recession. I haven't been unemployed since I started working in tech, and I'm going to make over 300k this year (half of which will go to taxes....), but I still feel like I'm constantly in danger of losing my job, that I'll never find another one afterwards, and I'll become financially insecure again and maybe even homeless. I don't think this feeling will ever go away, even though it''s completely unfounded. I also can't bring myself to commit to a mortgage even though I can more than afford it at this point. I should have bought my first home years ago, but couldn't bring myself to do it because I always feel like the economy is on the brink of collapse. I feel so much compassion for people who have trouble finding their first jobs, or lose their jobs during all of this, because I went through that. You feel so helpless and worthless. At least we have the stimulus checks and rent moratoriums this time around. But I feel like we're going to need them for years if we actually want to take care of those who have been affected.