Canadians feeling more pessimistic as pandemic wears on, survey finds

More Canadians are feeling anxious, lonely, and depressed these days, according to new research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

The survey shows a rise in the number of adults experiencing mental distress since the summer, saying figures are at levels similar to the start of the pandemic.

It’s the ninth survey on Canadians’ pandemic health and substance use, and asked more than 1,000 Canadians between Jan. 7 – 11 in 2022 how they are coping with the effects of the latest wave on their mental health.

“I think for a lot of people, this wave feels different from the other waves, like the rug has been pulled out from under them after they thought the worst was over,” said CAMH Psychiatrist Dr. David Gratzer.

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“I am seeing more pessimism and less resilience than in previous waves. Remember, we were already in a mental health crisis before the pandemic began, and this won’t end when the last COVID-19 patient leaves the ICU,” Gratzer said.

In recent months, more Canadians say they have been feeling moderate to severe anxiety than they did in July 2021.

“Similar spikes were found in reports of loneliness (24.1 per cent now compared to 18.8 per cent last summer) and feelings of depression (22.3 per cent now compared to 18.6 per cent last summer,” the survey found.

The survey also discovered more women than men are experiencing mental distress.

“These larger increases among women may reflect that they are often carrying a disproportionate burden, including imbalances in caregiving responsibilities and frontline work,” said Dr. Samantha Wells, survey co-lead and senior director at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at CAMH.

Researchers found that about a quarter of Canadians who needed mental health services to cope were unable to receive them. It’s a growing percentage compared with last summer, and again, more women experienced a lack of help dealing with onset effects of the pandemic.

While Canadians on the frontlines are reporting the highest levels of depression since the pandemic began, they are also showing significantly more adverse mental health symptoms compared with office workers.

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“While people are incredibly resilient, as this pandemic wears on it’s the people working on the frontlines who are among the most affected,” said Wells.

“Many, especially those in the healthcare sector, face significant stressors and unfortunately they risk reaching the point of burnout,” she added.

People over 60 had the lowest levels of anxiety than any other age group, and those between 18 and 39 years old experienced the highest. Parents also said they are more anxious now than they were in July.

“After all of the ups and downs of the pandemic, in terms of the overall mental health of Canadians, in many ways we are right back to where we were two years ago,” said Dr. Hayley Hamilton, survey co-lead and senior scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research.

“With Omicron in full force during this survey period, the relatively lower levels of mental distress reported last summer when the vaccine rollout was in full swing are now a distant memory for a lot of people. It has never been more important to invest in mental health to prepare our healthcare system for the fall-out from this pandemic,” Hamilton said.