Could it be depression? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

One in three adults is reporting mental health problems as the pandemic continues, the most recent CDC data indicate. Karen Swartz, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, says anxiety is extremely common, and depression is hard on its heels.

Swartz: With depression they’ll describe feeling much more negative about themselves and about the future. They also have significant distress. Their capacity to feel joy is blunted, and they have feelings of sadness or irritability or a lack of feeling. Most often they also have changes in sleep, appetite, energy and focus. During the pandemic there’s been a clear pattern, where younger individuals seem to be having more anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to older individuals. Younger adults, say in the 18 to 30 range, report much higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms, than those who are older.  :33

Swartz says treatment is especially important for this young group as depression is well known to recur and can become more severe. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.