As the days get longer in quarantine we continue to see distress in the mental health of others. Many popular news outlets like CNN, Time Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times have posted articles on how to help people suffering from their own mental health struggles during this time.

On Tuesday, May 5th, 2020, CNN came out with an article entitled “5 signs your coronavirus anxiety has turned serious, threatening your mental health, and what to do about it,” talking about how important it is to take care of your mental health as you see the signs increase, so you may be able to catch it before it worsens.

The author, Sandee LaMotte, breaks up the topic into 5 different signs. The 5 signs include a lack of sleep, a focus on bad news, loss of interest and pleasure, crippling anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. At the end of the article, Lamotte talks about ways to help yourself, almost like coping mechanisms for our time during quarantine. Things like: staying connected with others, deep breathing, and practicing gratitude.

Thursday, May 7th, 2020, Time Magazine came out with an article titled “Mental Distress Among Americans Has Tripled During the Pandemic Compared to 2018.” In this article, Markham Heid compares reported serious mental health cases among Americans from the year 2018 to now amid Covid-19

The graph reveals that in 2018 only 4% of Americans from the age of 18-29 reported having mental health issues, now over 38% of that group has reported suffering during this time. The ages of 30-34 and 45-59 have the same results of 4% during 2018 and 37% during the quarantine. Heid also talks about how opening up everything right now would be able to solve this issue, “The Covid-19 crisis has forced U.S. politicians and public health officials into a lose-lose dilemma: both groups are now weighing the life-and-death risk of exposing people to the virus against the manifold hardships created by stay-at-home directives and business closures.”

Also on Thursday, May 7th, 2020, The Los Angeles Times spoke on the ways they feel Covid-19 is affecting mental health, and they discussed the topic of kids impacted by the quarantine. This specific article is named “We need to prepare for the mental health impact of coronavirus on kids” by Sonali Kohl.

Kohl speaks on how some kids may be dealing with trauma from losing a loved one due to this virus. Another problem may be some kids having to witness substance abuse, neglect, or violence . Khol also talks about long-ranging research shows children who face adverse childhood experiences are at higher risk for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse deep into adulthood. Near the end of this article, the author talks about ways to assist kids during this time. A big factor in keeping kids on a healthy and happy schedule is having their caretaker do often mood check-ins, and trying to keep stress out of the picture.

Mental health is something that needs to be talked about more especially during the times we live in today due to COVID-19. Constantly checking up on others is something we all can do to help one another, especially the people who are silently struggling.