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Source: AP Photo/Susan Walsh
One angle of the coronavirus pandemic that hasn t been talked about enough is how quarantine has affected our mental health. A piece in the Scientific American concludes that the toll COVID has taken is worse than expected when it comes to anxiety and depression.
In August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found a tripling of anxiety symptoms and a quadrupling of depression among 5,470 adults surveyed compared with a 2019 sample. The Scientific American notes it s been an especially pressing time for young people. The CDC found that 62.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds reported an anxiety or depressive disorder.
Now, more than at any point in my life, young people need helping hands and listening ears.
Those words were spoken by U.S. Senator John Kennedy on the Senate floor as he presented his Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act, which requires higher education institutions to print the contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Crisis Text Line and an on campus mental health program on the back of student ID cards or provide that information on the school s website. Mental health resources can be lifesaving, and college students deserve to know what help is available to them when they need it most, said Sen. Kennedy.