Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2021)

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people across the globe.^[1][2][3][4] The pandemic has caused widespread anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.^[4][5][6] According to the UN health agency WHO, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, prevalence of common mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, went up by more than 25 percent.^[7][8] The pandemic has damaged social relationships, trust in institutions and in other people, has caused changes in work and income, and has imposed a substantial burden of anxiety and worry on the population.^[9] Women and young people face the greatest risk of depression and anxiety.^[2][6]

COVID-19 triggered issues caused by substance use disorders (SUDs). The pandemic disproportionately affects people with SUDs.^[10] The health consequences of SUDs (for example, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes, immunosuppression and central nervous system depression, and psychiatric disorders), and the associated environmental challenges (such as housing instability, unemployment, and criminal justice involvement), are associated with an increased risk for contracting COVID-19. Confinement rules, as well as unemployment and fiscal austerity measures during and following the pandemic period, can also affect the illicit drug market and patterns of use among consumers of illicit drugs drastically.

Mitigation measures (i.e. physical distancing, quarantine, and isolation) can worsen loneliness, mental health symptoms, withdrawal symptoms, and psychological trauma.