Human contact is one of the foundations of society. Hugging, talking face to face, sharing with one another fosters the loving relationships that make people feel good and mentally sound. But as once famously said: “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone” (“Quotes”). In the middle of March 2020, the world as everyone knew it changed forever. The coronavirus pandemic began to rapidly infect hundreds of thousands of Americans and citizens of the world. To save lives and prevent the further spread of the dangerous highly infectious disease, many of the states that make up the USA including California and New York sent all their citizens into a seemingly endless quarantine. This lockdown lasted for months on end and left families, friends, and loved ones separated. This quarantine lockdown plan was designed with one major goal, public safety and health. However, this goal sacrifices another portion of health just as important: mental health.

Mental health affects every aspect of human life. “Mental health is a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how a person thinks, feels, and acts” (“Mental Health”). To be mentally healthy is not to always be happy but to show “a range or human emotion and experiences while [properly] coping with challenges” (“Mental Health”). When this is not met, people become not mentally healthy or unstable, which could lead to a plethora of effects ranging from mild sadness and stress to high levels of anxiety and depression; in the worst case scenarios, these can lead to deaths of despair, or a death caused by suicide or drug overdose. The stress of the coronavirus combined with the loneliness and isolation has led to a new mental health pandemic, one almost as deadly.

Mental health conditions in the United States greatly increased as a result of the pandemic. On top of newfound social isolation, stress, and loneliness, the economic downfall created by the temporary shut down of the economy created another wave of devastation in the form of mass unemployment (upwards of 20.5 million people lost their jobs). This unemployment has also been linked to increased mental health issues combined with stress and isolation (“Flattening the Mental Health Curve”). “When compared to a 2018 survey, U.S. adults are now eight times more likely to meet the criteria for serious mental distress” and one-third of American adults reported symptoms of anxiety and depression according to the latest data collected by the Census Bureau (“Flattening the Mental Health Curve”). That means that one third of Americans, or 85 million people, are feeling emotions related to anxiety and depression in this difficult time. In another recent poll, data taken from March 23 to April 5 reported that 59% of people surveyed felt worried and 24% of people felt lonely as a side effect of the new plague (“Common Emotions Reported”). Too much of these emotions can lead to mental health imbalances and distress. Together, all these factors caused by COVID are fueling the second shadow pandemic.

Is the continued isolation to protect physical well-being worth sacrificing mental health? As reported by the nonprofit foundation, the Well Being Trust, “COVID-19 may lead to anywhere from 27,644 to 154,037 additional U.S. deaths of despair” (“Flattening the Mental Health Curve”). This number rivals the total deaths caused by the coronavirus that are rising everyday. The number of people getting infected with the coronavirus can be seen as an equivalent factor to the amount of people suffering from mental health issues in order to compare the pandemics. The Didi Hirsch crisis line reported that in April the activity of the hotline “blew up” and that 20% of people who called in expressed “suicidal desire.” In addition, after millions of people lost their jobs, text messages to the federal disaster distress hotline spiked by over 900% (“Experts Fear Suicide”). These large numbers of people struggling shows just how large the mental health pandemic is and the lives affected by the consequences of the coronavirus. The number of people mentally struggling is near to the amount of Americans who contracted COVID-19 (“Experts Fear Suicide”). In the end, there is no way to decide what kind of health is more important. Both aspects of health are extremely important and their respective pandemics have similarly devastating and life-altering effects. The mental health pandemic is just as deadly as the coronavirus. All that can be done is trying to safely help those struggling with mental well-being without sacrificing physical health.

Just as health professionals are struggling to stop COVID-19, mental health professionals are trying to find ways to safely help people with mental health issues. Prior to COVID, a common way to prevent suicide was to directly ask if someone is thinking about committing it. With isolation, the major intervention tool for stopping deaths of despair has been lost. Health care professionals are no longer coming in contact with patients with these issues and therefore, many individuals struggling with their mental health are getting overlooked or ignored (“Experts Fear Suicide”). This presents a new challenge: how can society come together to defeat the mental health pandemic while staying apart?

The solution: Communication. As stated by Dr. George Everly, “Sometimes all people need is an ear… They want to be heard.” Sadly, this little thing has been stolen by social distancing and quarantining. Resorting this could drastically help with mental health (“Experts Fear Suicide”). This goal is blocked by a barrier, but not one impossible to overcome. By using technology (Facetime, Zoom) and communication, help can be given to all those who need it through doctors, therapists, and loving family members. Communication is the light at the end of the tunnel (“Experts Fear Suicide”).

In conclusion, in the shadows of the current health pandemic, a new deadly mental health pandemic has spawned. Because of social isolation and unemployment, many Americans have developed new symptoms of anxiety and depression in an effort to protect themselves from physical health dangers. The coronavirus pandemic has left many Americans giving up their mental well-being to shield themselves from disease, however, mental health issues could be just as deadly and painful, with many people turing to suicide and drug overdoses to escape the pain. There is no way to justify which kind of health is more important; all that can be done is trying to help those who need mental support in the safest way possible (though digital communication technologies). Now, only one question remains: what could you be doing to help those in need around you?