In a piece discussing pandemic-related mental health, The Atlantic (7/7, Stern) says that “one thing that is certain about the current pandemic is that we are not doing enough to address its mental-health effects. Usually, says Joshua Morganstein, the chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster, the damage a disaster does to mental health ends up costing more than the damage it does to physical health.” But “in any case, the full extent of the fallout will not come into focus for some time. Psychological disorders can be slow to develop, and as a result, the Textbook of Disaster Psychiatry, which Morganstein helped write, warns that demand for mental-health care may spike even as a pandemic subsides.” Of COVID-19, Morganstein says, “If history is any indicator, we should expect a significant tail of mental-health effects, and those could be extraordinary.”
Related Links:
— “This Is Not a Normal Mental-Health Disaster , “Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, July 7, 2020