“The first time I experienced actual bad mental health was during COVID,” said sophomore Amelia Gougam.

Ever since March of 2020, COVID-19 has impacted young adults’ and teens’ mental health due to the many long lockdowns and life changes that have taken place.

Young adults everywhere over the past year and a half have had to adjust to doing school during the pandemic. At first, there was no school at all, and then it was just pass or fail for the last few weeks of the 2019-2020 school year. Lastly, students had to adjust to attending classes and doing all of their work online.

Students are finding the changes to schooling over the past year have made it difficult to do work and attend their classes. Schedules have changed up to four times, and the transition back into in-person classes has not been smooth-going.

Junior Inez Doezema said, “My GPA dropped super low. My mental health also dropped.”

Due to these adjustments, mental health symptoms in young adults have severely increased.

According to a survey by the CDC, mental health conditions have suffered for specific groups of people during COVID, including young adults. Approximately 25% of young adults up to twenty-four years old have experienced severe anxiety and depression symptoms. Depression symptoms rose four times due to COVID and anxiety symptoms have risen three times.

During these hard times with COVID still spreading and more adjustments still being made, it is important to do activities that are important to you to make you happy and to maintain a positive mental state.

“Hanging out with my best friends makes me feel happier,” sophomore Stephanie Garcia said.

With the recent increase in mental health symptoms in young adults, it is important to participate in activities to help keep a healthy mental state.

If you are ever feeling depressed and considering harming yourself or others, you can always contact a trusted adult or your guidance counselor. You can also call the Gryphon Place HELP-Line at 381-HELP.