Over 80% Of Americans Have Had at Least One Symptom of Depression during Lockdowns

More than eight in 10 Americans have reported at least one symptom of depression during lockdowns, according to the results of a new survey conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Field Trip. Here are the key findings:

Close to half of Americans reported symptoms of mild or more severe depression according to validated depression metrics. Interestingly, even though these measures indicate a nation suffering with mental health challenges, 76% of respondents self-identified their mental health as “good” or better, suggesting a disconnect with one’s self-perceived state of mind and objective measures of mental health…

Women are more likely than men to indicate negative mental states (with 24% describing their current mental health as either poor or fair, compared to 18% of men)…

Younger Americans are also more likely to rate their mental health as poor or fair…

The negative feelings Americans are feeling are so severe that in the two weeks prior to this survey alone, nearly one in four Americans (24%) indicated that they have felt that they would be better off dead or thought of injuring themselves. 

The MailOnline has more on how Americans have tried to cope with their negative emotions over the past 12 months.

Americans reported drinking more alcohol, taking more drugs, watching more porn and overeating more frequently amid the pandemic compared to before Covid…

Every day for more than a year, Americans have either been stuck at home, watching global Covid cases and deaths climb from the hundreds to the thousands, from the thousands to the millions, or have been working jobs on the front lines with little diversion or social contact. 

And as infection and death rates rose, so did rates of depression, anxiety and mental illness…

Many [of the survey’s respondents] were trying to cope on their own, using mechanisms that could do more harm than good. 

One in five people said they were drinking to help them cope, with 37% saying the amount of alcohol they consumed had increased since the start of the pandemic. 

Unsurprisingly, with more time spent at home, and fewer activities to do, a quarter of respondents said that they’d been overeating. 

Women were more likely to use food to cope…

Men found themselves overusing another coping mechanism: porn. 

17% of men said they had been using porn to deal with negative feelings amid the pandemic, and 34% said they were watching more porn than they had pre-pandemic. 

Opioid use was up, too. One and 10 young adults (between 25 and 34) said they had turned to the addictive painkillers to help them cope, and 20% of those said they were using the drugs more often…

While many people were already getting help for, or planning to get help for their depression and mental health issues amid the pandemic, the survey suggests that there will be months, if not years, of mental health fallout from the pandemic ahead. 

The MailOnline report is worth reading in full.