This is a public opinion article from Ms. Sahrish Khan.
The worldwide economic crisis is still unresolved, and it is quite known that mental health problems are due to poverty, inequality, and other social and economic determinants of health. During these times, it is normal to feel stressed. A person is always worried about the future: loss of income, unemployment, inflation, and the inability to pay debts. These crisis also increase the secondary mental health issues that can lead to suicides and alcohol-related deaths. Some people may experience anxiety, depression, insomnia, and social withdrawal.
The pandemic has adversely and unevenly damaged the financial situation and mental health of the most vulnerable households”
(Baranov, V., Grosjean, P., Khan, F. J., & Walker, S. (2022).
The most secondary psychiatric problems are especially in middle age men (20-50 years). The suicide rates are more evident in men in comparison to women. It’s just because, in every household, men are responsible for everything. If we take an example from our society, it is a male-dominated society, and men are responsible for all household chores. If men are unable to meet the standards of society, this will cause disturbance in their daily lives.
Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health
Let’s recall the COVID’19 situation we can easily understand to what extent the economic crisis will affect our mental health. At that time every individual was on the same pace (same financial issues and same mental problems). The hashtag stay-home stay-safe shows so many adverse effects on our lives. Research revealed that “The pandemic has adversely and unevenly damaged the financial situation and mental health of the most vulnerable households” (Baranov, V., Grosjean, P., Khan, F. J., & Walker, S. (2022). So it is quite clear that a financial crisis can badly affect our mental health.
Economic Crisis leading Unemployment
The other factor is unemployment and this is more often at a young age, it is proven in a study that “unemployment in young age people have a high risk of depression at 32 age and suicide in 44-46” (Vancea, M., & Utzet, M. 2017). This factor is common in both men and women. The next factor is social withdrawal. If a person suffers from this, he or she will try to isolate themselves; they will avoid social gatherings and even family gatherings. Isolation will lead to overthinking and depression and it is common in both genders.
The Relationship Between Stress, Alcohol Use, and Adverse Health Outcomes
The other is the alcohol death rate, which is more common in men. A lot of research has been done on this before. A study shows that “While their effects might be contradictory, stress, limited time, and income are all elements that are related to alcohol use and difficulties. On the other hand, drinking is commonly done to ease tension and deal with stress, but doing so is also linked to heavy drinking and alcohol-related issues” (Abbey et al., 1993; Cooper et al., 1992; Mares et al., 2013).
If we take an example from our society, here the easiest coping strategy that people think for stress is alcohol consumption. Excessive alcohol consumption can have adverse effects and it can cause severe deaths which might be a horrible car accident, kidney failure, or heart attack.
If a person suffers from social withdrawal, he or she will try to isolate themselves; they will avoid social gatherings and even family gatherings. Isolation will lead to overthinking and depression and it is common in both genders.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, we conclude that the economic crisis is associated with common mental health problems. So there should be some coping strategies to overcome these mental issues or there must be a few ways to face these crises without affecting our mental peace like job security and better opportunities. The more opportunities, the fewer problems.
The Author; Sahrish Khan, is a graduate of MSc in Applied Psychology at Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad.
