Twenty-five percent of young adults, aged 18-24, say they’ve thought of committing suicide in the last month due to coronavirus conditions, according to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study released Friday.
The CDC study also highlighted increased anxiety among youth leading to substance abuse: more than 40% of questioned indicated that their behavior or mental health has been affected b the pandemic. The CDC surveyed 5,412 young adults between June 24 and 30. (RELATED: COVID-19 Is A ‘Mental Health Threat,’ Doctor Says)
A woman wears a mask at Syracuse University, New York, U.S., March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Maranie Staab
The data was collected through an anonymous internet survey based on self-diagnosis and not clinical conclusions.
“Mental health conditions are disproportionately affecting specific populations, especially young adults, Hispanic persons, black persons, essential workers, unpaid caregivers for adults, and those receiving treatment for preexisting psychiatric conditions,” the report says.
Overall, 10.7% of those surveyed said they had contemplated suicide in the last month, while 25.5% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 indicated the same. The rate was even higher among unpaid caregivers, with 31% saying they had considered suicide in the past 30 days.
“Suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism. It’s going to be more deaths from despair than from the virus itself … That is our virus,” Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in May.
Researchers at Australia’s Sydney University predicted that same month that suicide would be the cause of more deaths that the coronavirus.
Doctors at California’s John Muir Medical Center also said in May that deaths by suicide were outstripping those by the coronavirus, noting that they had seen a “year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”