As Canadians continue to stay home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, prolonged isolation and worry about the pandemic has begun to take a toll on mental health.
In fact, it’s estimated that roughly 11 million Canadians will experience “high levels of stress in family and work settings,” according to Health Canada data revealed to Global News. Close to two million Canadians are predicted to show signs of “traumatic stress.”
These estimates are based on the effects of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
“Following the SARS outbreak, it was reported that more than 40 per cent of the population reported increased levels of stress in family and work settings during the outbreak, with 16 per cent showing signs of traumatic stress levels,” said a spokesperson for Health Canada.
Experts are worried about the mental health impacts of the pandemic, which are anticipated to affect society in numerous ways long after the COVID-19 outbreak is contained.
“What I think we’re facing here is a very traumatic event for a lot of people,” mental health strategist and speaker Mark Henick previously told Global News.
“It’s a traumatic societal event for people. And one thing that we know about trauma is that while it’s happening, you do whatever you can do to survive.”
As provinces begin to reopen, Henick anticipates “residual stress, depression … financial pressures, learning how to re-engage with the world in [a] new way.”
“That’s going to be difficult for a lot of people,” Henick said. “And those are exactly the kinds of risk factors that lead to increasing rates of depression, anxiety and even suicide.”
That’s why the federal government created Wellness Together Canada, an online portal intended to provide Canadians with free resources, tools and professional support services to help with mental health.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an investment of $240.5 million to develop and expand the portal.
The tools in the portal are intended to offer Canadians “different levels of support” depending on their needs. It also has the ability to directly connect Canadians with mental health service providers.
“There are more than 6,000 service providers employed with Homewood Health and Kids Help Phone who will deliver psycho-social support services via text and call,” said the Health Canada spokesperson.
“While the exact provider mix is not available at this time, the service providers cover a range of health professions, including social work and psychology, with diverse backgrounds: counselling psychology, clinical social work, rehabilitation, crisis management, child psychology/neuropsychology, sexuality, adolescence issues, marital/family therapy, and substance use.”
The portal will be “closely monitored” to meet the demands of Canadians, read the statement.
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Loneliness and mental health
Loneliness has been shown to have an effect on a person’s physical and mental health.
“There are also some links to problems with cognitive functioning … [as well as] poorer cardiovascular function and immune system functioning.”
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Federal funding supports new online mental health resources for Canadians during pandemic
The good news: being alone does not have to be synonymous with loneliness, said Badali.
“Loneliness is about people’s levels of satisfaction with their connectedness or their perceived social isolation,” she said. “It’s possible to be physically isolated right now and not feel lonely.”
Luckily, technology is an easy way to maintain social connections — something Badali recommends to Canadians as the pandemic wears on.
“Now, more than ever before in our history, we can connect to other people through verbal and nonverbal communication channels in ways that do not require physical contact or proximity,” she said.
Use technology wisely
It’s one thing to use technology to stay connected with friends and family; it’s another to spend your time in isolation endlessly scrolling through social media.
Being plugged into the news every hour of every day is a “major factor” in mental and physical health, registered psychologist Simon Sherry previously told Global News.
One 2018 study found that “compulsive media use” triggered social media fatigue, ultimately leading to elevated anxiety and depression.
“Increased screen time [can cause] anxiety, distractibility and loneliness,” Sherry said.
When this is all compounded by fear and anxiety over COVID-19, Sherry said people experience a sort of “digital distortion.”
“The distortion being that people are being flooded with negative, threatening, panic-inducing information and that information is becoming over-represented in their mind,” Sherry said.
“This is a problem of too much information.”
