Everyone’s Anxious. Therapists Are Slammed. Here’s How Mental Health Care Is Keeping Up.
In a time when we’re experiencing a collective amount of anxiety, the field of mental health is changing
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The coronavirus pandemic has changed so much about the way we live, from how we socialize with one another to the way we work. More invisibly but no less impactful, the virus has also changed the level of anxiety many of us are experiencing on a daily basis. “Anecdotally, we know that most people are reporting — whether they’re in treatment or not — elevated levels of stress and anxiety,” says Lynn Bufka, PhD, senior director of practice research and policy at the American Psychological Association (APA). This anxiety is almost unprecedented in its universality — nearly every single person worldwide is currently experiencing some kind of coronavirus-related impact on their mental health.
To cope, many of us will (and should) seek mental health support or services. Of course, finding a new therapist is no easy task, pandemic or no. In much of the United States, there are not enough therapists. Even in areas like major cities where therapists are easier to come by, they often don’t take insurance, making it difficult to find affordable, accessible mental health care even under normal circumstances. Now, a digital relationship with a therapist isn’t just your best bet, it may be your only one.
A recent article in the scientific journal Telemedicine and E-Health argued that telehealth services will be crucial in reducing the mental health burden of Covid-19, and organizations that currently offer digitized mental health services are already seeing spikes in users. Talkspace, an online and mobile therapy platform, reports their user volume has gone up 25% in just the last month, including a 30% increase in use of coronavirus-related terms in text exchanges with providers since March 5. Crisis Text Line, a confidential text messaging service for individuals in crisis, reports that 80% of their texters are now mentioning anxiety versus 30% pre-pandemic. And their user base — which before the pandemic was primarily teens aged 14–17 — has seen an 11% jump in texters 18–34 years old.
