Millennials Are Facing Mental Health Issues from the Coronavirus

Pandemic
How important is it to prioritize the mental health of Millennials,
especially during the COVID-19 pandemic?
It is important to prioritize the mental health of every millennial. The
outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) poses a great risk to the
mental health of millennials. As COVID-19 spreads, so do mental-health
problems, especially among Millennials. A lot of this has to do with
uncertainty.
Since March 2020, we’ve been facing a global pandemic that has impacted
every phase of our daily lives. With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, the
impacts of this pandemic are taking a toll physically, emotionally, and
financially. The pandemic has brought about new challenges and feelings
of uncertainty for everyone. From dealing with financial stress to parents
needing to balance work and care for children at home, to mandatory self-
quarantining measures, it can often feel overwhelming.
There's a lot to be stressed about lately due to the coronavirus pandemic:
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 keep rising, stock market volatility is causing
panic, jobs are at risk, and store shelves are emptying. But there's a lot
more at stake here than toilet paper. I'm talking about mental health,
particularly for millennials. According to a 2019 report from the Blue Cross
Blue Shield Association, major depression diagnoses are rising at a faster
rate for millennials — a 47% increase since 2013 — compared to any other
age group. And a 2018 survey from the American Psychiatry Association
found that they are by and large the most anxious generation.
The mental health of Millennials is at risk. The rise in anxiety may have
more to do with something else Covid-19 has imposed on all of us, but
especially on the young: unprecedented uncertainty. In essence, the
pandemic has called off all plans, and all planning. Many young adults
couldn’t take their final exams and can’t accept the grades handed out in
their place. They don’t know whether and when to apply where given that
colleges may or may not open or be worth the tuition. And mom and dad
may or may not be able to pay, depending on whether they’ll have an
income again. Stress is also building for millennials. They're spending a lot
of time worrying that their parents might become infected with the
coronavirus. Millennials have been seeing the fact that their parents are
aging and could be considered at-risk and might get infected by
Coronavirus disease. The state of millennials' mental health during the
pandemic, from stress over their parents' health to how they're coping
through food and alcohol. Millennials find themselves in a dangerous
position. The generation had already been experiencing a mental-health
decline. The loneliness and anxiety of quarantine life are not helping.
Prioritizing the mental health of millennials is important. When life gets
crazy, it’s all too easy to allow our health and mental well-being to be left by
the wayside. The truth is, however, that our mental health affects every
area of our lives. For us to perform at our best, to be the person we want to
be, we have to understand that taking care of ourselves mentally is a must.
If your goal is being the best support, you can be for a husband, wife, son,
daughter, or other loved one going through a tremulous ordeal, then taking
care of your own needs is a must.
Allowing room in our lives for self-care, relaxation, self-forgiveness, and
understanding means that you can avoid the mental burnout that comes
with life's stressors. It's important to remember to take care of your mind
just as much as you would take care of your body, and it's not as hard to do
as you might think.
For us as individuals, it means we need to brace ourselves. The COVID- 19
pandemic has further highlighted the need to normalize prioritizing mental
health. The best way we can support ourselves and others is to be more
proactive and focus on mental well-being. As cases rise again, even in
countries that thought they had the virus under control, a second wave this
fall seems likely, perhaps requiring more restrictions and disruptions.
Everything remains entirely uncertain. The year 2020 seems to be asking
all of us to learn to live with that.