CLEVELAND — The pandemic, elections, natural disasters, civil unrest is causing fear, stress, and anxiety in Americans.
Several recent studies suggest Americans are stressed out.
The American Psychological Association found almost 80% of adults in the U.S. said the coronavirus pandemic is a significant source of stress in their lives and two out of three adults said they have experienced increased stress over the course of the pandemic.
The American Psychiatric Association found more than 62% of Americans feel more anxious than they did a year ago,
"They can't do things like they used to do to unwind. Folks are getting tired of this and it's getting hard and frustrating," said Dr. Donald Malone, Chairman Cleveland Clinic Behavioral Health.
Cera Flynn is the mother of twin little boys. Managing their schooling plus both Flynn and her husband working from home, like many people, it got to be too much.
"This fear of the unknown, this pandemic, you try to stay positive, but it was really, really difficult, it caught up with me," said Flynn.
She got help through her Cleveland Clinic therapist and is now on a mission to help others.
"It's almost becoming the norm that more people are struggling than not, it's ok to seek help," said Flynn
Many police departments across our area are seeing an uptick in calls for welfare checks or other calls associated with mental issues during this time.
Avon Police Department has seen a slight increase in calls.
"We're going into the holidays, typically we get more calls for service for welfare checks, mental health issues," said James Drozdowski with the Avon Police Department.
Experts are reminding people to take care of yourself both physically and mentally during these difficult times.
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