Mental Health and Suicide During a Pandemic

Suicides, drug overdoses and other so-called "deaths of despair" have emerged as possible consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in addition to the virus itself. Many experts say it's too early to determine whether the pandemic is creating a legitimate increase in these deaths, but most also warn of the various adverse psychological effects one can experience in such uncertain times. Mental health has been the focus of widespread coronavirus news coverage, as well as the pandemic's impact on the opioid crisis and other preexisting public heath concerns. Many reports, particularly from right-rated sources, focused on calls to end shelter-in-place orders from a California doctor who cited an "unprecedented" number of recent COVID-19-linked suicides.