(Bloomberg Opinion) – Of the many side effects of the coronavirus, perhaps the least rated are psychological. Those who have had a bad case and have survived, such as people who have been in war or accidents, may have post-traumatic stress for years. And even people in the if still healthy majority are hurting. Young adults in particular become more depressed and anxious than SARS-CoV-2 given the life plans they have nurtured.
It has long been clear that Covid-19, like any major disaster, causes an increase in mental health disorders and their associated evils. These range from alcoholism and drug addiction to wife beatings and child abuse. In America, the most affected region of the world with US hotspots to Brazil, this psycho-social crisis has become its own epidemic, the regional branch of the World Health Organization said this week.
In the US, the national rate of anxiety in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2019 (from 8.1% to 25.5%), and depression almost doubled (from 6.5% to 24.3%) . In Britain, which also has a severe outbreak and a long lockdown, depression has roughly doubled, from 9.7% of adults before the pandemic to 19.2% in June.
As with everything else about this virus, the suffering is not evenly spread. Like I said in April, Covid-19 beats the poor harder than the rich and minorities less than whites. And as I wrote last month, it also deprives the careers and lives of some generations – specifically Millennials – more than those of others. It is a similar story with the spread of depression and anxiety, which are disproportionately painful for minorities.
Perhaps more surprisingly, it is also the youngest adults who have the most mental pain, in the US and the UK (see charts) and perhaps elsewhere as well. At first glance, this may seem strange, because young adults, such as children, are less at risk for major health complications of Covid-19.
But even the boys are worried about their older siblings. Perhaps more pertinent, older adults had already built their lives for the pandemic – with routines, structures, careers and relationships to fall back on. The boy did not have that, and just started that adventure when Covid-19 hit.
And what a mess it has made of all that hope. Even in good times, adolescents and young adults are not exactly paragons of emotional stability. Many are dissatisfied with their own bodies or confused about their professional path, their sexual options and their friendships.
But by 2020, all of these bugbears have grown. Schools and universities are closed and this fall may close again, as new-fangled student rotations enter with some presence, masked distance and not much fun. Summer camps have been canceled, as have many internship places and job offers. Concerts and parties are eaten as forbidden. The social lives and networks for job hunting of young adults, for the first time in recent memory, are paused.
And replacing personal, tactile and pheromone interactions with screens and apps just doesn’t cut it. Biologically, we are still like other primates, which need to groom and be groomed to lower lower cortisol levels and feel good. One result, especially for the hormonal boy, is isolation and loneliness, which can lead to listlessness and despair: brief depression.
The rise in fear may have more to do with something else that Covid-19 has been fighting on all of us, but especially on the young: unusual uncertainty. In essence, the pandemic has thwarted all plans, and all planning. Many young adults could not take their final exams and could not accept the degrees awarded in their place. They do not know if and when they should apply where, whether or not the colleges may or may not open the course. And mom and dad may or may not be able to pay them, depending on whether they have an income again.
Young and old, individuals differ in where they rank on the so-called Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS). The less a person may experience uncertainty, the more likely he or she is to worry about spirals going into all possible scenarios. This eventually wipes out destruction on our brain and is a major cause of anxiety, including its severe form, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
That not all people, even among the young, are at risk because everyone is psychologically unique – introverts can even thrive in this age of social distance. But the spread of anxiety and depression is enough of a fight to rank alongside viral transmission as a concern. The scars will be long term, from delayed learning and broken relationships to abandoned dreams and more suicide.
For policymakers, this means that they have to consider both the virus and the human mind when deciding on future closure measures. And they need to find more money and help for people with problems – worldwide, there is less than one mental health professional for every 10,000 sufferers, most of whom receive no treatment at all.
For us as individuals, it means we need to support ourselves. If cases recur, even in countries that thought they had the virus under control, a second wave seems likely this fall, which may require more restrictions and disruptions. Everything remains completely uncertain. The year 2020 seems to be asking all of us to live with it.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editors or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt Global and writer for the Economist. He is the author of “Hannibal and I.”
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