- Coronavirus healthconcerns, social isolation,

and job loss are taking a huge toll.

According to the Census Bureau,

more than a third of Americans are showing

clinical signs of anxiety or depression.

And now, more people areturning to medications for help,

but it has, as you can imagine,some doctors very worried.

Joining us now is BetsyLinnell, a licensed professional

clinical counselor and assistant professor

of psychology at Cedarville University.

Betsy, thank you so muchfor coming on the show.

Can you spell out whatfactors could be contributing

to this rise in anxiety and depression?

- Absolutely, a lot ofthe factors that increase

both anxiety and depressionare social isolation,

which has happened naturally just through

our need to socially distance,

loss of job or loss ofuse of being able to say

what my identity is orwhat my profession is.

And so we have individualswho are young adults

who actually are someof the most impacted,

who really don't know howto navigate this world.

They haven't decided what their career is,

and they don't know what thatlooks like in the future.

We also have individualsthat have lost their jobs

or that are facinginability to currently work

or to have control and toprovide for their families.

And so all of those greatlyincrease anxiety and depression.

- Yeah, you mentionedyoung adults, obviously,

those who are navigating through life,

they're going through,whether it's someone

in high school getting into college,

or they didn't have a chance to graduate.

All of these things,really, it's affecting

the entire spectrum of our society, right?

- Absolutely, and it's going all the way

from young children, even, that are not

able to attend schoolregularly or see their friends,

I have a friend with an 11-year-old who,

he is just beside himself and is acting

completely out of characterbecause he just misses people,

all the way up to the elderly,

who can't have people come visit them.

And so it is, it's an impactthat's all across the board

of just being able to recognizethat we are super anxious

because we don't know what is coming next

or when this could be over,we don't have an end date,

and that makes it even more complicated.

- Yeah, I was just talkingto my makeup artist,

who said that she hadnot hugged her grandkids

for three months, and it was killing her.

I'm curious, Betsy, what are some ways

people can manage anxiety or depression?

- Absolutely, the mostcommon ones, honestly,

are those things that we useas regular coping mechanisms

anyway, but we really need to step it up.

Sadly, anxiety anddepression often make us

stop doing them, and thoseare like healthy eating,

exercise, having a regular sleep routine,

avoiding alcohol, social support.

I know we can't hug and seeand kiss our loved ones,

but one of the psychologicalfactors that is very strong

in women is just what wecall the tend and befriend,

and that just means that we need to tend

to other people's needsand befriend others,

which is really our Christian calling,

to love others and to truly do what God

has called us to do for other individuals,

and even ask ourselves, "What do I wish

"somebody would do for me?" and then find

somebody you can do that for,

and so really being able to give back

during a season when we really just wanna

hunker down and crawl into our beds.

- Absolutely, and inthe midst of all this,

just reaching out to somebody,

when they post something on social media,

you can just tell if they're hurting,

and just a phone call oreven FaceTime or WhatsApp

to connect with them, right?

- Yes, absolutely, I actuallyjust did that last week.

I was having a struggle week being single,

being at home alone, and one of my friends

was having a struggle with being home

with all of her children,and we just called each other

and both vented, and we were like,

"I don't get your life,but I feel for you."

And so, doing that for your friends

that are even different from you,

just realizing they werereally struggling too.

All of us are in this together.

- That's right.

If you or someone you knowis considering suicide,

please, I urge you tocontact the National Suicide

Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.

Betsy, thank you so muchfor coming on the show.

Appreciate it.- Thank you so much.

- And have a great weekend, okay?

- God bless, thank you.- Thank you.