By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be taking a heavy toll on America’s mental health. A new survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that psychological distress among U.S. adults tripled — from 3.9 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent in April 2020.

Psychological distress was even more acute among young adults aged 18­–29. Nearly one in four (24%) had symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Distress was also high among Latino adults (18.3%) and adults living in low-income households (19.3%) making less than $35,000 a year.

Nearly 1,500 adults were surveyed about their mental health between April 7 to April 13, when much of the country was still under a coronavirus lockdown. Researchers say their findings, recently published in JAMA, suggest the U.S. will face a wave of mental health problems even after the pandemic ends.

“We need to prepare for higher rates of mental illness among U.S. adults post-COVID,” said lead author Emma McGinty, PhD, associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “The study suggests that the distress experienced during COVID-19 may transfer to longer-term psychiatric disorders requiring clinical care.

“It is especially important to identify mental illness treatment needs and connect people to services, with a focus on groups with high psychological distress including young adults, adults in low-income households, and Hispanics.”

Older adults seem to be handling the emotional challenges of the pandemic better, with only 7.3% of Americans aged 55 and older reporting psychological distress in April. So are people in households making over $75,000 a year. Only about 8% of Americans in that category reported distress.

Surprisingly, the survey found only a slight increase in feelings of loneliness, from 11 percent in 2018 to 13.8 percent in 2020, suggesting that loneliness is not driving the psychological distress people are feeling.

Zoloft Shortage

Increased demand for antidepressants during the pandemic has led to shortages of Zoloft and its generic version, sertraline. The Food and Drug Administration recently added the antidepressant to its list of drug shortages. Drug manufacturers say they “cannot support monthly demand” for sertraline, in part because of low supplies of its active ingredient. The shortages are expected to continue for the next few months.   

Sertraline is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and the most commonly prescribed antidepressant. Over 49 million prescriptions for sertraline were written in 2018, according to the IQVIA Institute, making it the 11th most dispensed drug in the United States.

In the early stages of the pandemic, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts reported a spike in prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax and Valium, as well as antidepressants and anti-insomnia drugs.