Loneliness taking toll on Canadian mental health in COVID-19 era, study finds

Mental health consequences of the pandemic Psychotherapist Marci Gray says Omicron is bringing back some depressive symptoms and anxiety for many, especially among young people.

TORONTO — A new report on the mental health of Canadian workers suggests loneliness is worse for many people than the fear of dying from COVID-19.

Morneau Shepell's overall mental health index for September was down 10.2 points from its pre-2020 benchmark. The reading in August was down 11.2 points from the benchmark, while July was down 10.4 points.

While the financial impact of the pandemic and getting ill with COVID-19 were the most prevalent concerns, people who identified loneliness as a concern had the lowest mental health score at minus 25.8.

That was even lower than the score of minus 17.7 for those who cited a fear of dying from COVID-19 as a worry.

Morneau Shepell's latest monthly report on its mental health index is based on online responses collected Aug. 21 to 30, before the recent surge of COVID cases.

The polling industry's professional body says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2020