The pandemic’s mental health toll exists on a spectrum, according to Debra Kaysen, a behavioural scientist at Stanford University. California’s former surgeon general, Nadine Burke Harris, called the pandemic “probably the greatest collective trauma of our generation”. She felt like a burden to her family, and began struggling with suicidal thoughts, asking herself: “What do I have to live for anyway? They’d be better off without me.”Īnd she is far from alone: the collective stress, grief and trauma of the pandemic has had an undeniable effect on mental health, with the American Psychological Association citing a huge increase in demand for the treatment of anxiety (up 82 percent) and depression (up 70 percent) since it began. Marlow did not want to get out of bed, shower or eat. That scared me because I had no control over it,” she said, choking up. “What I was most afraid of was losing my mind. While she never received an official diagnosis for either, she sank into depression. One doctor thought she might have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while another said she was showing symptoms of long-haul COVID-19. She tested negative for the disease, but her psychological symptoms intensified to the point that she spent a week in a psychiatric hospital.Īfter her release, she experienced flashbacks and memory gaps, and she lost her sense of time. Marlow herself developed symptoms associated with COVID-19 – including a fever, chest pain, searing headaches, insomnia and brain fog – early in the pandemic.
US COVID DEATHS TORRENT
Many in the healthcare field have had to come to terms with a torrent of unexpected deaths, while society at large has collectively grappled with social isolation, financial insecurity and the loss of loved ones. Marlow is among countless people who have suffered trauma from the pandemic. An estimated 8.5 million Americans have lost a close family member to the coronavirus. More than two years into the pandemic, the US on Tuesday reached 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. “Seeing that blow-by-blow of continuous death every single day would debilitate anyone,” Marlow told Al Jazeera. As the sick poured in, Liz Marlow, a registered nurse in the emergency department, saw fear in the eyes of her normally stoic colleagues as they had to choose which critical patients to help first. Los Angeles, California, US – In spring 2020, COVID-19 hit the Kaiser Permanente Fontana hospital outside Los Angeles. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-80.
Warning: The story below contains descriptions of suicidal thoughts.