Spring 2021
Is the Pandemic Reducing Behavioral Health Stigma?
by Denise Camp
It’s been a year since the COVID-19 virus changed our world. Physical distancing, wearing a mask, and working/schooling from home have become the norm. With the restrictions on what were our regular activities and the isolation that is being endured, many more people are beginning to experience symptoms of behavioral health issues like depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, and substance use.
The impact of these disruptions and new stressors is shown by a spike in the number of calls into call centers and crisis lines. According to a June 2020 article in USA Today, NAMI’s HelpLine experienced a 65% increase in calls in March and April 2020, as compared to the same time period in 2019. Even more notable is the 890% increase in call volume at The Disaster Distress Helpline, a sub-network of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, seen in April 2020 as compared to April 2019. 1
With so many more people experiencing what many of us have lived with for so long, I and many others began to wonder if the stigma related to mental health and substance use issues is diminishing, or if the pandemic is at least changing conversations about behavioral health needs.
If someone has become much more concerned than normal with washing their hands and sanitizing everything during the pandemic, are they more likely to understand what it is like for someone who lives with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
If someone is more depressed because they are isolated and not able to find support, might they feel differently about someone living with Major Depressive Disorder?
This subject was addressed as a topic of the month on On Our Own of Maryland’s Distorted Perceptions website back in June 2020, including a featured Time article by Dr. Jessica Gold about the possibility that the pandemic has caused a shift in stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness. Dr. Gold is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and regularly writes about mental health, stigma, and medical training.
Dr. Gold writes that, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a sort of equalizer. Nearly everyone is self-isolated at home, trying to work while managing a household, and dealing with uncertainty and grief. To some degree, everyone is experiencing what life with anxiety is like. This includes those in management, who are dealing not only with their employees’ stress but also their own. Though depression is already the number one cause of disability worldwide, this is the first time many employers and managers are thinking and openly talking about mental health in the workplace.”2
This trend is not just happening in the US. In the United Kingdom, conversations around mental health are reported as becoming more normalized because more people are dealing with more psychological issues due to the pandemic. 3 Similarly, more employers are taking an interest in mental health because their employees are asking for more mental health provisions.
These types of conversations are key to changing attitudes. Talking about the issue of behavioral health is one of the first steps to reducing the stigma around mental health and substance use issues. Like our Distorted Perceptions campaign emphasizes, once the conversation is started, we can educate those around us about the facts and realities of recovery.
Something else I found interesting is the notable effect of the pandemic on the mental health of young people. According to the recent C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine, researchers found that 46% of 977 parents of teens said their child has shown signs of a new or worsening mental health condition since the start of the pandemic. 4
If you think about it, the effect of the pandemic on young peoples’ behavioral health could be long-lasting and a generational issue. At the same time, a June 2020 poll of young people commissioned by the 4-H Council discovered that ultimately, teens are calling for major change in how we approach conversations about mental health, with 82% saying that it’s time for America “to talk more openly and honestly about mental health issues in this country.”5 With that attitude among the future adults in our country, I am confident that attitudes and the stigma towards behavioral health issues will continue to change and improve.
2 - https://time.com/5835960/coronavirus-mental-illness-stigma/
3 - https://www.raconteur.net/healthcare/mental-health/covid-mental-health-rethink/
4 - https://mottpoll.org/reports/how-pandemic-has-impacted-teen-mental-health
5 - https://4-h.org/media/new-survey-finds-7-in-10-teens-are-struggling-with-mentalhealth/