Michelle Obama opens up about mental health struggles during Covid pandemic

Former first lady Michelle Obama spoke candidly in an interview published Wednesday about her struggles with low-grade depression during the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges of 2020, encouraging Americans to speak more openly about their mental health.

"Depression is understandable in these circumstances, during these times," she said in an interview with People magazine. "To think that somehow that we can just continue to rise above all the shock and the trauma and the upheaval that we have been experiencing without feeling it in that way is just unrealistic."
"This is one of the reasons why we need to talk more about mental health because everybody deals with trauma, anxiety, the difficulties in different ways," Obama said in a video posted to People's website.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the economic fallout has brought on a mental health crisis in America, and a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in August showed that nearly 41% of respondents reported mental health issues stemming from the pandemic. About 1 in 3 Americans said they had experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Last summer, Obama revealed on her podcast that she was suffering from "low-grade depression" during the height of the pandemic, racial reckoning in the US and political strife.
For the issue's cover article, Obama told People magazine that she "needed to acknowledge what I was going through, because a lot of times we feel like we have to cover that part of ourselves up, that we always have to rise above and look as if we're not paddling hard underneath the water."
"We had the continued killing of Black men at the hands of police. Just seeing the video of George Floyd, experiencing that eight minutes. That's a lot to take on, not to mention being in the middle of a quarantine," she said.
Obama also told People magazine that she has been vaccinated for Covid-19.
"I encourage everyone to get a vaccine as soon as they have an opportunity," she said.
The former first lady also shared that the pandemic has allowed her and former President Barack Obama to build a stronger relationship with their two daughters as they quarantined at home.
"These have been challenging times. Many people have struggled: jobs lost, people going hungry," she told People. "We've learned to count our blessings, the importance of health and family."

Staggering numbers of health care workers -- more than one in five -- have experienced anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, new research has revealed.

Health care workers have been working for long hours under strenuous conditions. Because of this, Nathaniel Scherer, co-lead author of the systematic review and meta-analysis published Wednesday in PLOS One, said he was not surprised by the numbers.
'Absolutely defeated': Black nurses struggle with mental health support while battling Covid-19
'Absolutely defeated': Black nurses struggle with mental health support while battling Covid-19
"Previous evidence has shown that these experiences can lead to stress, fatigue and burnout, which can increase the risk of common mental disorders," said Scherer, a research assistant at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Researchers analyzed 65 studies that together included over 97,000 people for the global study. Their analysis broke down the numbers by region and found health care workers in the Middle East had the highest rates of anxiety and depression, with 28.9% and 34.6% experiencing those mental health challenges, respectively.
"The Middle-East experienced a high number of patients with COVID-19, and it may be that this caseload put additional strain on healthcare professionals," Scherer said via email.
12 lifestyle habits to reduce stress 
12 lifestyle habits to reduce stress
North America ranked the lowest, with 14.8% of health care workers experiencing anxiety and 18.7% experiencing depression.
However, only seven studies analyzed data from the Middle East and two from North America, so Scherer said it's important to be cautious when interpreting the results.
Researchers took the average of results from nine of the 65 studies to estimate that 21.5% of health care workers across all regions experienced moderate levels of PTSD.
But it isn't always easy for health care workers to reach out for help. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said last May it can be hard for people to recognize the psychological toll on frontline workers.
In his "Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction" podcast, Gupta said "... it's always struck me that even within the medical community, there is still a stigma about seeking therapy, seeking mental health support. Yet it's so important, maybe never more important, than it is right now."

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