Depression and the Pandemic

Hi, I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper, and today we're going to talk about the pandemic and depression. So there are many reasons why people are experiencing depression during the pandemic, and today I'm going to talk to you about, about a few of the reasons why. The first thing I see in my practice is that people are experiencing more depression if they live alone. Many of the people that I see in practice are older adults, and by default they live alone, whether that means that they've been married and they've had a spouse for 50 years and that spouse has passed away, or because their children are all, all grown, grown now and have moved away, and they simply live alone because that's the phase of life that they are in. But when you live alone, you don't have daily interactions with people, um, unless you see doctors a lot, or you have a chore worker, or you have some other type of organization in the community that is involved in your care. Otherwise, you typically don't see anyone other than maybe your neighbors outside of the window if you wave. So when I see individuals that are older during the pandemic, many of them say that they have experienced more loneliness and as a result more depression. One of the other reasons why people are more depressed during the pandemic is because of the restrictions that have been placed on us during COVID-19. Not being able to touch or see your loved ones has been really difficult for a lot of people. I've heard many, many stories over the past year of having to attend events via Zoom, so, um, cocktail parties and happy hours via Zoom. Meetings via Zoom, birthday parties via Zoom, um, and while it gives us an opportunity to still see people on our screens, it's nothing like being able to actually stand next to someone, touch them, hold their hand, or give them a hug. These are all things that we've missed in the past 12 months, and it's really caused a great deal of more anxiety and depression. One of the other things that has contributed to more depression this past year is watching the news. I see many of my patients in therapy that watch a great deal of news. I tell everyone all the time, and I've said this even prior to COVID, that I do not suggest that anyone watches the news. Now, I understand that just for curiosity's sake, you want to know what the weather is, you want to know what's going on in the world, and that is fine, but I suggest limiting your news watching to 1 hour a day. Many of the older adult patients that I see watch news all day long. On average, they watch about 6 to 8 hours hours of news per day. In other words, that's basically all they watch sometimes. And what I found is that individuals who watch more news tend to be more depressed and more anxious. So again, I suggest that we watch less news in order to feel better in our lives and to feel less depressed. One of the other elements that I have seen that contributes to depression this year is that individuals have lost loved ones. I've heard stories, especially in my own family, about individuals who have been sick and in the hospital for months and have passed away, and loved ones have only been able to communicate with these individuals over the phone or over FaceTime or over Zoom. And this is very difficult and very different than how we usually interact with each other when we're sick or when we're in the process of dying. It's caused all of us to feel a great deal of lack of connection, and it's been difficult as we lose people in our families. So not being able to see individuals in the hospital and having to see them as they're in intensive care or as they are passing away through FaceTime is not really a normal experience for anyone, but it's made us all feel a bit more depressed. Losing people is an issue that causes more depression, but losing people and not being able to see them, touch them, and feel them as they're passing away is a huge issue. So although we're able to attend funerals via Zoom, it is nothing like being able to actually gather with your friends and family to celebrate or memorialize an individual as they have passed away. So losing people from COVID is one of the issues that has caused most people to feel more depressed. I've already talked about some of the issues that have contributed to pandemic depression, But one other thing that I've seen that has contributed to it is the overall levels of fear that people have as a result of COVID-19. Fear about socially distanced, so am I able to still see my friends and coworkers while being at least 6 feet apart? Fear about if my loved ones are healthy and safe through COVID-19. Fear about the vaccine. What does that mean for all of us long-term? There are so many different levels of fear, and many of us experience it on all levels. So fear is one of those huge contributing factors to pandemic depression. Today I've reviewed a few of the aspects that have contributed to pandemic depression. If you're interested in more tips about depression, please subscribe.