Mental Health & COVID Essay

Part I: The year 2020 saw over half a million people die of COVID and over 20,000 people die of gun violence. Lives were altered, livelihoods were upended and feelings of grief, stress, and anxiety became part of our lives. Share a personal experience, keeping within your own comfort level, of the negative or positive effects of 2020 on your own, or someone you know, mental health.

Part II: Review the module notes, readings, and resources in Part I.

Now let’s apply the module notes and readings to the following questions:

1. Identify the potential risk and resilience factors that influenced the possibility of developing PTSD due to the COVID pandemic.
2. Restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 outbreak led to widespread isolation. Find 1 article related to the COVID pandemic’s impact on an underserved/vulnerable population and discuss how isolation led to an increased prevalence of PTSD within that population.
3. Mass shootings are happening almost weekly, instilling fear, hopelessness, and hypervigilance in individuals and communities. Discuss how the trauma brought about by gun violence can lead to more severe symptoms of PTSD in children.
4. You have read about some of the variables that contribute to the onset or exacerbation of PTSD. Explore your own community and identify what is being done there to address these issues. Some examples are social service programs, policies, or initiatives that support people living with, or at risk of developing PTSD.
5. Identify one new piece of information you learned this week.

References/Reading

• Falkenburger, E., Arena, O, & Wolin, J. (2018). Trauma-Informed Community Building and Engagement. (Links to an external site.) Urban Institute.
• Henry Ford System Staff (2021). Coping With Pandemic PTSD: How to Heal After a Year of COVID-19. (Links to an external site.) Henry Ford Live Well.
• Harris, L. & Harris, A., (2020). What the Threat of Gun Violence Has Taught a Generation of American Children. The Gender Policy Report. (Links to an external site.) The University of Minnesota.
• Iancu, A Jaycox, et al. (2019). After School Shootings, Children and Communities Struggle To Heal. Health Affairs Blog. (Links to an external site.)
• Laurencin, C. T., & Walker, J. M. (2020, November 12). A Pandemic on a Pandemic: Racism and COVID-19 in Blacks. (Links to an external site.)
• Murray, H., et al. (2020). COVID-19: treating the trauma. (Links to an external site.)
• Turner, H. A., et al. (2019). Gun Violence Exposure and Posttraumatic Symptoms among Children and Youth. (Links to an external site.)
• Gifford Law Center. (2021). Intervention Strategies. Gifford Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (Links to an external site.)

Media

• Children’s Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. (Links to an external site.)
• The Mental Health Toll of COVID-19. (Links to an external site.)
• Nurses and doctors discuss lingering mental health issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Links to an external site.)
• Compassion Fatigue and resources on COVID. (Links to an external site.)
• Ramgopal, K, Abou-Sabe, K. & McFadden, C. (2021). For veterans with PTSD, pandemic ‘feels a lot like wartime’. (Links to an external site.)
• Voices of Violence: our stories begin here. (Links to an external site.)
• Lovett, L. (2020, April 22). COVID-19 risks amplified for underserved communities.