There is a new pandemic spreading across the U.S., but this one isn’t fueled by microscopic infectious parasites.
It is the result of the emotional overload tied to a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of a worldwide health crisis on top of social, economic, racial and political unrest that has exhausted American psyches, mental health experts say.
“We have uncertainty to the max,” Temple University psychologist Frank Farley said. “We’ve had a sort of piling on of stressors, which I have never seen in my lifetime. No break and restrictions on our response because of COVID.”
The “psychological pandemic,” as Farley calls it, has resulted in unprecedented demands and needs for mental health resources, support and services.