According to a new survey from Sun Life, more than half of Canadians say that COVID is harming their mental health, and 42% are currently seeking treatment for support.
Among those actively seeking help, 40% are accessing self-help online while 30% are seeking medical advice or treatment. Among those seeking treatment or support, 45% are women and 38% are men, found the survey of 1,000 respondents.
Canadians’ mental health and well-being remain down despite a slowing of infections and a phased reopening of their economies, according to a report from Morneau Shepell.
“The continued compromise to Canadians’ mental health (shows) that there’s still much to be done to mitigate this critical dimension of the COVID crisis,” says Stephen Liptrap, CEO of Morneau Shepell. “As we start to see the end of the strict lockdowns, we need to remain vigilant about support for mental health and not take our eyes off that issue.”
The American Psychiatric Association issued their own stark warnings this week. ‘Developing programs aimed at enhancing resilience and treating individuals struggling with the mental health consequences of COVID-19 demands the same urgent priority that is now being assigned to testing of vaccines and antivirals.’
