Giving Compass' Take:

• Michelle Samuels summarizes a recent study on the dramatic increase of depressive symptoms among American adults due to trauma from COVID-19.

• Why is this study essential in addressing the mental health needs of adults during the coronavirus? What can you do to help those suffering from the trauma of COVID-19?

• These resources can help you support individuals during COVID-19.

More than a quarter of American adults are experiencing COVID-related symptoms of depression, researchers report.

Though 8.5% of adults were experiencing depression symptoms before the pandemic, the rate climbed to 27.8% of adults by mid-April 2020.

“Depression in the general population after prior large-scale traumatic events has been observed to, at most, double,” says Sandro Galea, professor and dean in Boston University’s School of Public Health and senior author of the paper in JAMA Network Open.

He cites examples such as September 11, the West Africa Ebola outbreak, and recent civil unrest in Hong Kong.

Galea’s study, the first national study in the United States to assess the change in depression prevalence before and during COVID-19, used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the leading self-administered depression screening tool used by mental healthcare professionals.

Across the board, the researchers found an increase in depression symptoms among all demographic groups. But the biggest difference in depression rates among demographics came down to a person’s finances.

“Persons who were already at risk before COVID-19, with fewer social and economic resources, were more likely to report probable depression,” suggesting that inequity has increased during this time and that health gaps have widened, says lead author Catherine Ettman, a doctoral student at the Brown University School of Public Health and director of strategic development at the School of Public Health Office of the Dean.

As COVID-19 continues to grip the country, she says, “there may be steps that policymakers can take now to help reduce the impact of COVID-19 stressors on depression, such as eviction moratoria, providing universal health insurance that is not tied to employment, and helping people return to work safely for those able to do so.”

Read the full article about the impact of trauma from COVID-19 by Michelle Samuels at Futurity.