‘Things are worse’: Expert talks about mental health as we enter year three of Coronavirus

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - We are now two years into the Coronavirus pandemic. The conversation of mental health has been brought to the forefront of many conversations throughout the pandemic.

In a 14 News special report Tuesday, we spoke with Lynn Kyle, Executive Director of the Lampion Center to gauge where we are in terms of mental health in our community. We spoke with Kyle a year ago about the same topic.

“Things are worse than they were before,” Kyle said.

We asked Kyle about two studies. One study gauged children’s mental health in the few years leading up to the pandemic. The other study, authored by the World Health Organization, suggested there was a 25% increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety.

“There is nothing very surprising by those studies,” Kyle said. “It shows mental health was an issue before the pandemic started. I think a lot of people weren’t even aware of it then. if you had the problems, you were aware, if you didn’t, then you kind of you didn’t notice it. The pandemic kind of brought it to the forefront for everyone.”

Kyle also touched on things we can do to support one another and where she hopes the conversation around mental health will be in the future.

You can watch the full interview below.

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