COVID-19 and mental health in America: Crisis and opportunity?

There is opportunity in every crisis. COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented crisis. What opportunity can be gleaned from it? Unlike crises in the more recent past, such as the bombing of the Twin Towers and Pentagon on 9/11, COVID-19 is an ongoing global pandemic, affecting nearly every person on the planet in some shape or form. It is not only the physical effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that are lethal; the mental health effects are also taking their toll. The impact of physical distancing, stay-at-home orders, job loss, isolation, and fear have resulted in a considerably greater number of people's experiencing symptoms of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder in the United States. Accessing health care services has been a particular challenge given concerns about exposure to the virus and an overwhelmed health care delivery system. In response, policymakers at the federal and state levels implemented changes aimed at addressing access to essential care to include telehealth services. As the public experiences firsthand the struggles of coping with mental health issues in a fragmented dysfunctional health system, there is an opportunity is to use this crisis as a springboard to advocate for permanent changes to promote telehealth, to elevate the importance of integrated behavioral health, and to support the destigmatization of mental illness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).