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 assess that they have excellent or good mental health (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, going 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 the fall of 2020, one in five adults said they had these symptoms.
“For the majority of the population, COVID has been a significant stressor […], but I don’t know if we can talk about trauma,” says 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 worrying among LGBTQ+ adults, 45% of them reported symptoms of depression and 35% anxiety.
“Young adults have been in a pandemic for just over three years […] It’s a time that is conducive to being in a group, 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. “There are some symptoms that are present in the general population and that was also present before COVID-19,” 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, therefore well before the pandemic.