The Institute for Mental Health Policy Research has released the results of a new survey this week that asked Canadians about mental health, alcohol consumption, and anxiety about COVID-19.
“Some of the things that stand out is that people are very worried about their finances. People are worried about getting COVID-19,” says Dr. Hayley Hamilton, Senior Scientist at the institute, a division of the Canadian Association of Mental Health.
Hamilton tells NEWS 95.7’s The Todd Veinotte Show that 20 per cent of Canadians reported feeling moderate to severe levels of anxiety, and the same amount reported experiencing loneliness.
“When we define loneliness we’re talking about those who experienced loneliness at least three out of the last seven days. That’s the basic definition,” she says.
The survey released this week is the second in a series the institute is conducting. Compared to the first survey, three weeks prior, generalized anxiety was down four points.
“In the first survey we did, it was about one in four, so the second survey shows a little bit of decline. But that’s high, as far as I’m concerned,” Hamilton says.
The researcher says the high number isn’t surprising, especially considering how many people’s jobs and families are still being impacted by the pandemic.
“I mean this is a challenging time, an unprecedented time,” Hamilton explains. “So it’s important for us to assess and monitor how Canadians are feeling during this time.”
Another area of concern is binge drinking, with 31.2 per cent of men 18 per cent of women reporting their drinking was at a high level in the past seven days.
“Sometimes when people are stressed they engage in heavy drinking. So again that is something that we would’ve expected,” says Hamilton.
Hamilton says that increased isolation, lack of family and friends and losing jobs can all be contributing factors to loneliness, anxiety and increased drinking. But she hopes that as things continue to re-open and more people return to work, the survey results will change.
“The concern is that those things, to what extent those things are going to continue. Which is why we’re doing multiple surveys, to see if there’s going to be a reduction as things open up within provinces. Are people going to be returning to a more even keel? Or are these issues going to remain at a somewhat elevated level?” she says.
The research is available online to anyone who’s interested, and for government and industry officials to aid in their decision-making.
“We need to know, yes there is a great deal of concern about getting COVID, but there also are concerns with respect to the impact of the measures that have been imposed to reduce harm from it,” she says.
In the coming weeks, the CAMH will conduct a third survey to continue to assess the mental health of Canadians on an ongoing basis.
“It should be interesting to see whether that continues to drop as the provinces open up more and more,” says Hamilton.
“It’s not normalcy per se that people are returning to, but at least they’re able to go back on the patio, for example, and have dinner, or engage in conversations with their friends, see their friends in person. So that is encouraging and so we hope to see those figures continue to decline.”
