The Current Mental Health Pandemic is Inevitable

Stress is cumulative; depression and anxiety follow

I have a new theory that there are now two kinds of people in the world:

1. Those who have been dealing with significant mental health challenges during the pandemic
2. Liars

Photo: cottonbro from Pexels

The answer to the ages-old question “genes or the environment?” is always both: the environment pushes us over the edge, though some topple more easily. Two years after we first started disinfecting our groceries, masking up, struggling at work, and treating strangers like actively infectious monsters, how can our surroundings not be affecting us? Even those not genetically predisposed to clinical depression or addiction have likely sampled another offering from the mental health smörgåsbord of 2022, like insomnia, stress, uncontrollable shifts in major life plans, and the inability to properly grieve ambiguous loss.

As this recent paper (on top of thousands just like it) shows, the effects of stress are cumulative, which can lead to a mental disorder—an overall state change in functioning, brought on by demands, dangers, strains, or frustrations.

In the chart below, the left side is “normal, healthy” you; the right side is “depressed/anxious/in a funk” you. The slope of the hill…