COVID-19 pandemic: every day feels like a weekday to most

The COVID-19 outbreak has clear clinical and economic impacts, but also affects behaviors e.g. through social distancing, and may increase stress and anxiety. However, while case numbers are tracked daily, we know little about the psychological effects of the outbreak on individuals in the moment. Here we examine the psychological and behavioral shifts over the initial stages of the outbreak in the United States in an observational longitudinal study. Through GPS phone data we find that homestay is increasing, while being at work dropped precipitously. Using regular real-time experiential surveys we observe an overall increase in stress and mood levels which is similar in size to the weekend vs. weekday differences. As there is a significant difference between weekday and weekend mood and stress levels, this is an important decrease in wellbeing. For some, especially those affected by job loss, the mental health impact is severe.

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The Mental Health Impact of Contact with COVID-19 Patients on Healthcare Workers in the United States

Psychiatry Research ◽

10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114359 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 114359

Author(s):

Kelly T. Hurst ◽

Elizabeth D. Ballard ◽

Grace E. Anderson ◽

Dede K. Greenstein ◽

Grace W. Cavanaugh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Health Impact ◽

The United States

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Racial Battle Fatigue and Mental Health in Black Men

Overcoming Challenges and Creating Opportunity for African American Male Students - Advances in Educational Marketing, Administration, and Leadership ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5990-0.ch005 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 99-107 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Delila Owens ◽

Shanice Lockhart ◽

Dana Y. Matthews ◽

Tanya J. Middleton

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Black Men ◽

The United States ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Psychological Effects ◽

Battle Fatigue

The experiences of Black men in the United States are significantly different from men of other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Black men have to deal with racism on a daily basis. Understanding of the effects of daily racism and its implications is limited. Racial battle fatigue is a relatively new concept in the field of mental health. The current chapter discusses the concept of racial battle fatigue and its effects on Black men. The authors discuss both the physical and psychological effects of daily racism on the health of Black men.

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1887

Peyote Effect ◽

10.1525/california/9780520285422.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 11-22

Author(s):

Alexander S. Dawson

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Washington Dc ◽

German Scientist ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

First Americans ◽

The Moment

In this chapter, we consider the moment when European and American scientists “discovered” peyote. John Briggs was one of the first Americans to write about peyote (in 1887), followed shortly by James Mooney, who recounted his experiences among the Kiowa of Oklahoma at the Anthropological Association in Washington DC in 1891. Around this time, the German scientist Louis Lewin encountered peyote while on a trip to the United States. Americans proved less adept at unlocking the chemistry of the cactus than their German counterparts, who identified four different alkaloids in the cactus by the mid-1890s. This period also saw notable studies of peyote by investigators in the United Kingdom, including some fairly dramatic self-experimentation among English intellectuals overseen by Havelock Ellis. Though their work did not yield widely accepted breakthroughs, these researchers were early pioneers in the exploration of the use of peyote and then mescaline as a tool for mental health professionals.

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Racial Battle Fatigue and Mental Health in Black Men

Research Anthology on Empowering Marginalized Communities and Mitigating Racism and Discrimination ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-8547-4.ch048 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1026-1032

Author(s):

Delila Owens ◽

Shanice Lockhart ◽

Dana Y. Matthews ◽

Tanya J. Middleton

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Black Men ◽

The United States ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Psychological Effects ◽

Battle Fatigue

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Mental Health During the First Weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.561898 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

William D. S. Killgore ◽

Sara A. Cloonan ◽

Emily C. Taylor ◽

Natalie S. Dailey

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Job Loss ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

The United States ◽

Health Problems ◽

World Health ◽

Population Estimates ◽

Clinically Significant ◽

At Home

Background: By March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 crisis as a worldwide pandemic and many local governments instituted stay-at-home orders and closed non-essential businesses. Within the United States, tens of millions of workers lost their jobs and financial security during the first few weeks of the national response, in an attempt to slow the global pandemic. Because of the enormity of the pandemic and its potential impact on mental health, the objective of the present study was to document the prevalence of mental health problems and their association with pandemic-related job loss during the third week of the nationwide shutdown.Methods: Mental health was assessed via online questionnaires among a representative sample of 1,013 U.S. adults on April 9–10, 2020. Rates of clinically significant mental health outcomes were compared between participants who lost their job as a result of COVID-19 restrictions (17.4%) vs. those who did not (82.6%). Bivariate multiple logistic regression identified factors that were predictive of, and protective against, mental health problems.Results: The prevalence of clinically significant symptoms was significantly higher than prior population estimates, ranging from 27 to 32% for depression, 30 to 46% for anxiety disorders, 15 to 18% for acute/post-traumatic stress, 25% for insomnia, and 18% for suicidal ideation. Prevalence estimates were 1.5–1.7 times higher for those who reported job loss due to COVID-19 restrictions than those who did not. Mental health problems were predicted by worry over financial instability, insomnia, social isolation, and alcohol consumption, while getting outside more often, perceived social support, and older age were protective against these problems.Conclusions: During the first 3 weeks of lockdowns/stay-at-home restrictions, mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and acute stress reactions were notably elevated relative to prior population estimates. Job loss related to the nationwide shutdown was particularly associated with poorer mental health. These findings provide a baseline of mental health functioning during the first weeks of the national emergency and lockdown orders in response to COVID-19.

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Growing Job-Related Income Losses, Increasing Social Inequalities, and Physical and Mental Health Impact During the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, April – December 2020

International Journal of Translational Medical Research and Public Health ◽

10.21106/ijtmrph.347 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 76-89

Author(s):

Gopal K Singh ◽

Hyunjung Lee ◽

Romuladus E. Azuine

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Impact ◽

The United States ◽

Health Problems ◽

Poor Health ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Fair Poor

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to substantial socioeconomic disruptions and increases in mental health problems in the United States (US) and globally. Whether social inequalities in job losses and resultant physical and mental health problems have worsened over the course of the pandemic are not well studied. Using temporal, nationally representative data, this study examines racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in job-related income losses and their associated health impact among US adults aged 18-64 years during the pandemic. Methods: Using April, August, and December 2020 rounds of the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (N = 56,788 for April; 83,244 for August; and 52,150 for December), social determinants of job-related income losses and associated impacts on self-assessed fair/poor health and depression were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results: In December, more than 108 million or 55.5% of US adults reported that they or someone in their household experienced a loss of employment income since March 13, 2020. An additional 68 million or 34.6% of adults reported expecting this economic hardship in the next four weeks due to the pandemic. Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics, other/multiple-race groups, low-income, and low-education adults, and renters were significantly more likely to experience job-related income losses. Controlling for covariates, those reporting job-related income losses had 51% higher odds of experiencing fair/poor health and 106% higher odds of experiencing serious depression than those with no income losses in December 2020. The prevalence of fair/poor health varied from 11.6% for Asians with no job/income losses to 28.8% for Hispanics and 32.3% for Blacks with job/income losses. The prevalence of serious depression varied from 6.5% for Asians with no income losses to 21.6% for Non-Hispanic Whites and 21.8% for Blacks with job/income losses. Conclusion and Implications for Translation: Job-related income losses and prevalence of poor health, and serious depression increased markedly during the pandemic. More than half of all ethnic-minority and socially disadvantaged adults reported job-related income losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, with 20-45% of them experiencing poor health or serious depression. Copyright © 2021 Singh, et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

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Older Latino Mental Health: A Complicated Picture

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa033 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel E Jimenez ◽

David Martinez Garza ◽

Verónica Cárdenas ◽

María Marquine

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Substantial Reduction ◽

Health Impact ◽

The United States ◽

Small Sample ◽

Late Life Depression ◽

Latino Population

Abstract The aggregation of Latino subgroups in national studies creates an overly simplistic narrative that Latinos are at lower risk of mental illness and that foreign nativity seems protective against mental illness (i.e. immigrant paradox). This broad generalization does not hold up as the Latino population ages. Given that social inequalities for risk appear to widen with age, the social disadvantages of being Latino in the US increase the risk for mental illness across the lifespan. This review focuses on the mental health of older Latinos, specifically the three subgroups with the longest residential history in the United States – Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. We examine relevant epidemiological and clinical psychopathology studies on aging in these Latino populations and present evidence of the heterogeneity of the older Latino population living in the United States, thus illustrating a limitation in this field – combining Latino subgroups despite their diversity because of small sample sizes. We address the migration experience – how intra-ethnic differences and age of migration impact mental health – and discuss social support and discrimination as key risk and protective factors. We conclude with a discussion on meeting the mental health needs of older Latinos with a focus on prevention, a promising approach to addressing mental illness in older Latinos, and future directions for mental health research in this population. Success in this endeavor would yield substantial reduction in the burden of late-life depression and anxiety and a positive public health impact.

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Real-Time Mental Health Crisis Response in the United States to COVID-19

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000826 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer D. Runkle ◽

Margaret M. Sugg ◽

Shrikanth Yadav ◽

Stella Harden ◽

Jaclyn Weiser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Young People ◽

Real Time ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

The United States ◽

Crisis Response ◽

Suicidal Thoughts ◽

Health Crisis ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Background: Data are scarce on assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people. Aim: To examine changes in crisis text patterns in the United States during the pandemic compared to the prepandemic period. Method: Nonintrusive data from a national digital crisis texting platform were analyzed using an interrupted time series design. Poisson regression with repeated-measures examined help-seeking patterns for stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health concerns in the pandemic (March 13 to July 20, 2020) compared to the prepandemic period (March 13 to July 20, 2019). Results: An abrupt increase in national crisis response texts occurred during the pandemic for stress and anxiety, substance abuse, bereavement, isolation, and abuse compared to the prepandemic period. Similar trends of excess texts for isolation and abuse were reported among children (relative risk [RR]abuse: 1.16, CI: 1.03, 1.31; RRisolation: 1.15, CI: 1.09, 1.21) and adolescents (RRabuse: 1.17, CI: 1.11, 1.24; RRisolation: 1.08, CI: 1.05, 1.11), bereavement among Black (RR: 1.31, CI: 1.12, 1.54) and Hispanic (RR: 1.28, CI: 1.10, 1.49) texters, and isolation and bereavement in female (RRisolation: 1.09, CI: 1.06, 1.11; RRbereavement: 1.21, CI: 1.13, 1.28) or nonconforming youth (RRisolation: 1.19, CI: 1.08, 1.32; RRbereavement: 1.50, CI: 1.08, 2.09) texters. Conversely, the risks of reporting bullying, depression, relationship issues, and suicidal thoughts as reasons for texting were significantly lower during COVID-19. Limitations: Results may underestimate crisis support-seeking in some groups because demographic data were not captured on all texters. Conclusion: Findings illuminated the real-time crisis response of young people across the United States and can inform more responsive interventions to alleviate the mental health consequences brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Evaluating Mental Health After the 2010 Haitian Earthquake

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness ◽

10.1001/dmp.2011.31 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 154-157 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Marc A. Safran ◽

Terence Chorba ◽

Merritt Schreiber ◽

W. Roodly Archer ◽

Susan T. Cookson

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Clinical Assessment ◽

Public Health Surveillance ◽

Health Impact ◽

The United States ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Public Health Preparedness ◽

Public Health Officials

ABSTRACTMental health is an important aspect of public health after a disaster. This article describes what is known and what remains to be learned regarding the mental health impact of the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti. Public health surveillance efforts in Haiti and the United States in the first 2 months after the earthquake are described. Challenges in clinical assessment and public health surveillance are explored. Potential implications for survivors and public health officials are considered.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:154–157)

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Who Stays Physically Active during COVID-19? Inequality and Exercise Patterns in the United States

Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World ◽

10.1177/2378023120987710 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 237802312098771

Author(s):

Chloe Sher ◽

Cary Wu

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Physical Exercise ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Social Research ◽

Health Impact ◽

The United States ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

The Rich

Exercising is crucial to keeping up physical and mental health during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this visualization, the authors consider how existing social inequalities may create unequal physical exercise patterns during COVID-19 in the United States. Analyzing data from a nationally representative Internet panel of the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research Understanding Coronavirus in America project (March to December), the authors find that although all Americans have become physically more active since the outbreak, the pandemic has also exacerbated the inequality in physical exercise. Specifically, the authors show that the gaps in physical exercise have widened substantially between men and women, whites and nonwhites, the rich and the poor, and the educated and the less educated. Policy interventions addressing the widening inequality in physical activity can help minimize the disproportionate mental health impact of the pandemic on disadvantaged populations.

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