Anxiety, Depression, and Telehealth Needs

As COVID surged, so did anxiety and depression. As it (COVID) has persisted, many have moved from reactive depression and anxiety — as a result of feeling stuck at home, unable to spend time with loved ones — to chronic problems and growing helplessness and hopelessness. Parents, teachers, and mental health professionals have outlined the challenge of helping people, both those for whom the symptoms are new and those in whom they have been exacerbated.

For example, Park et al. (2021) write, in the American Psychologist that, early in the pandemic, being older, having higher levels of mindfulness and social support, and meaning-focused coping strategies were related to resilience. Yet, as COVID persisted, resilient strategies were “minimally predictive” (p. 715) of adjustment. Gustaffson et al. (2021) suggest that perinatal maternal depressive symptoms are elevated since the pandemic began and those symptoms, in turn, often relate to adverse outcomes for children, with a transactional relationship in which maternal depression predicts child distress and child distress predicts maternal distress. Bechlinger et al. (2021) note further that maternal role overload has increased since the pandemic began, regardless of children’s ages.

So where does telehealth come in? First, professionals need to reexamine how they are spending their time so as to optimize direct patient contact and reduce time wasted due to cancellations and no-shows. Telehealth requires direct channels that enable the client to immediately reach the professional. Second, professionals need to have a wider range of tools to quickly ascertain how to target services to best assist clients. Finally, professionals recognize the need for better coordination among service providers (case managers, psychiatrists, therapists, etc.) and that multidisciplinary teams can often provide optimal care.

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