After depression during COVID-19, the mental health of Canadians has improved since health measures were lifted, according to a new Statistics Canada survey released Tuesday. On the other hand, symptoms of depression and anxiety remain as high as during the pandemic.
Data collected by Statistics Canada from February to March 2023 shows a significant gain in perceived mental health. The government agency was carrying out a third inventory of the mental health of the Canadian population since COVID-19.
In fact, more than half of adults rate their mental health as excellent or good (57%). During the same period in 2021, 51.9% of adults reported having good mental health. Life satisfaction has also increased significantly in two years, from 44.6% in 2021 to 54% in 2023.
However, symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder plague one in four adults in the country, a rate that has remained unchanged for two years. In fall 2020, one in five adults said they had these symptoms.
“For the majority of the population, COVID was a significant stressor […], but I don’t know if we can talk about trauma,” indicates Marie-France Marin, professor of psychology at UQAM. She recalls that the adults who responded to the Statistics Canada survey self-reported their condition, which does not amount to diagnoses. “COVID may have weakened certain individuals, and then we may have a kind of lasting effect, it’s very possible,” adds the psychology professor.
According to the Statistics Canada survey, there is a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among young adults, Indigenous people and LGBTQ people. More than a third of young adults aged 18 to 24 reported symptoms of depression and a quarter reported symptoms of anxiety. The rate is also very concerning among LGBTQ adults, 45% of whom reported symptoms of depression and 35% anxiety.
“Young adults have been in a pandemic for a little over three years […] It’s a period that is conducive to being in groups,” says Marie-France Marin. They didn’t necessarily have access to as much social support. »
But it is difficult to decide what really results from the pandemic, notes the psychology professor. “Certain symptoms are present in the general population and they were present before COVID-19 as well,” she says.
Indeed, Statistics Canada already noted last September that mental health problems, including major depressive episodes and generalized anxiety disorder, have been on the rise for 10 years in the country, well before the pandemic.
