Could COVID-19 Finally Destigmatize Mental Illness?
June 05, 2020
A recent piece in Time Magazine argues the COVID-19 pandemic may ultimately produce positive changes in mental health care. Author Jessica Gold, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, says widespread stress and anxiety during COVID-19 may lead to greater prioritization of mental health. She points to increasing conversations about workplace mental health and vulnerability in how people portray themselves on social media. The pandemic makes clear that mental and physical health are deeply connected and deserve equal treatment, she writes, arguing for increased access to care and insurance coverage parity. “Instead of looking at the post-COVID-19 mental health future through a lens of inevitable doom, we can, and should, use this moment as the impetus for the changes that mental health care has always pushed for,” says Gold.
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