While the toll of the pandemic has most often been counted in lives lost, the true toll of COVID-19 remains to be seen as millions of us continue to struggle with our mental health. The unrelenting stress of staying safe from a deadly airborne virus only exponentiated the normal social, fiscal, and existential stresses of everyday life. Now, depression and anxiety in America are skyrocketing.
“The emotional toll and stress put on our healthcare and essential workers has been unprecedented and unthinkable. But it’s affected you, too,” Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, wrote in a recent op-ed. “We’ve transitioned from being worried about our health and panicking about our own mortality to dealing with significant loss of life. Grief followed. And COVID has now impacted our jobs, finances, schooling, childcare, families. The list is endless. Daily life hasn’t been the same.”
Despite this grim reality, hope is on the horizon.
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How Vaccines and Social Media Are Helping Mental Health Post-Covid
SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH
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"After the Roof Caved In" on Mental Health
A commitment to mental health is something no one should take lightly, especially after a year when the vast majority of us struggled with our mental health. Luckily, institutions like Northwell are putting in the time and resources necessary to improve the lives of the population they serve. Dowling would say it’s a commitment that starts from the top. If you want to learn more about Dowling’s fascinating poverty-to-success story, his struggles and triumphs, and why he cares so much about the mental health of others, pick up a copy of “After the Roof Caved In” wherever books are sold.
VIEW BOOK ONLINE
The emergence of viable vaccines is providing health care workers at hospitals like Northwell hope that an abatement of the pandemic may be in sight. As of March 15, 100 million Americans had received at least one dose of a vaccine. In New York alone, Northwell Health has vaccinated over 100,000 people and is expecting that number to rise quickly with the availability of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot dose.
This is not only a game-changing accomplishment in the fight against COVID, but experts like Dr. Manish Sapra expect the existence of vaccines to have a positive
effect on our mental health, too. On a recent episode of Northwell’s “20-Minute Health Talk” podcast, Sapra said, “This has been a long, protracted course, and what the COVID vaccine does, it sort of sets the clock where we start taking that identity of being in recovery rather than just being a victim. It just gives a level of optimism that we can actually take a big step against a disaster like this.”
Making steady progress to better our mental health is exactly what Dowling has been advocating since his own bought with serious depression. In his new memoir, “After the Roof Caved In,” Dowling discusses depression and its deleterious effects in detail. He writes, “After (my first wife) Dympna and I divorced, when I was twenty-five, I entered one of the darker periods in my life—probably the darkest period.”
In the memoir, Dowling speaks candidly about a cycle of self-destruction and sadness, from which only the love of his mother and family, along with a few close mentors, helped revive him. This experience helped shape his views on the importance of mental health.
“Depression is a powerful force,” Dowling writes, “and I learned firsthand how it can knock you down.”
Susan Maxwell-Trumble receives the Northwell's first dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from Jeanine Mucci, RN. From left: Jay Enden, MD, Donna Moravick, NP, Ms. Maxwell Trumble, Stephen Bello and Ms. Mucci.
Social media data may be a useful tool in psychiatry, leading to more accurate diagnoses and better outcomes.
getting the best outcomes, says Michael Birnbaum, an assistant professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and an attending physician at Zucker Hillside Hospital at Northwell Health. And because 1 in 5 Americans suffer from a psychiatric disorder, getting better treatment will positively affect the lives of millions, people who, until now, may have been experiencing mental illness but suffering undiagnosed.
“There’s an alarming gap between the number of people who experience mental illness and those who receive care,” Dowling said on a recent segment for Big Think. “It’s especially troubling when you consider that the health disparity between people with mental illness and those without is larger than disparities attributable to race, ethnicity, geography, or socioeconomic status.”
This new research represents a major advancement for scientists and health care providers with wide-ranging implications. Although previous research has examined the relationship between online activity and psychiatric disorders, the new study is unique because it paired online behavior with clinically confirmed cases of psychiatric disorders. In the near future, by analyzing changes in someone’s social media language and behavior, psychiatrists and researchers may not only get a more accurate glimpses into people’s lives, but the activity may also provide viable clues to allow for earlier diagnosing going forward.
By acknowledging its significance and importance, Dowling has throughout his career steadily pushed for ways to better the population’s mental health. New research spearheaded by Northwell is exploring ways of innovating mental health care by harnessing a surprising tool: social media. In the past, social media has been noted as contributing to our anxiety, depression, and loneliness. But apps like Facebook and Twitter, when used in conjunction clinical information, hold promise for helping psychiatrists accurately and effectively identify mental health problems.
Early identification and good care are key to
While the toll of the pandemic has most often been counted in lives lost, the true toll of COVID-19 remains to be seen as millions of us continue to struggle with our mental health. The unrelenting stress of staying safe from a deadly airborne virus only exponentiated the normal social, fiscal, and existential stresses of everyday life. Now, depression and anxiety in America are skyrocketing.
“The emotional toll and stress put on our healthcare and essential workers has been unprecedented and unthinkable. But it’s affected you, too,” Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, wrote in a recent op-ed. “We’ve transitioned from being worried about our health and panicking about our own mortality to dealing with significant loss of life. Grief followed. And COVID has now impacted our jobs, finances, schooling, childcare, families. The list is endless. Daily life hasn’t been the same.”
Despite this grim reality, hope is on the horizon.
A commitment to mental health is something no one should take lightly, especially after a year when the vast majority of us struggled with our mental health. Luckily, institutions like Northwell are putting in the time and resources necessary to improve the lives of the population they serve. Dowling would say it’s a commitment that starts from the top. If you want to learn more about Dowling’s fascinating poverty-to-success story, his struggles and triumphs, and why he cares so much about the mental health of others, pick up a copy of “After the Roof Caved In” wherever books are sold.
VIEW BOOK ONLINE
CONTINUED LEARNING