Thesis and Outline Students Name Professor Course Dat ✓ Solved

Topic: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected people's mental health and substance abuse? According to the World Health Organization survey, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of millions of people around the globe and the demand for mental health services has been on the rise in most countries. The pandemic triggered vast lockdowns, and the entire population had to go into isolation (Shroff & Becker, 2021).

Thesis statement: The experience of COVID-19, breakdown of social support, loss of jobs, and the stigma behind the disease has affected many people’s mental health, while others have resulted in substance abuse.

Major Disruptions Due to COVID-19 That Have Led to Mental Problems

1. In the United States, forty-five percent of adults have reported experiencing stress and anxiety, and the number is likely to increase as the pandemic continues to spread.
2. In the United Kingdom, approximately thirty-three percent of the residents have reported experiencing anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic.
3. Young adults have experienced closure of schools and loss of jobs, resulting in poor mental health.
4. Different nations have experienced economic downturns and hence lack enough resources to sustain the country.
5. People of color, for instance, the Hispanic and Latinos, have suffered the effects of the pandemic, and accessing mental health services has become a challenge.
6. Many essential workers such as nurses are at high risk of contracting the virus.

Why People Have Turned to Substance Abuse

1. The pandemic was unexpected; therefore, most people had not prepared both financially and emotionally for the period.
2. With governments enacting lockdowns in most countries, the economic status was affected greatly, and most businesses could not retain their workers; hence most individuals were laid off or retrenched from their jobs.
3. With families to feed, bills to take care of, and no income coming in, most individuals resorted to drug abuse as a way to occupy their minds and avoid facing the reality that was happening (Panchal et al., 2020).
4. Most individuals who turned to substance abuse after the pandemic have had to deal with loss of property due to lack of funds to finance mortgages, family breakup, and loss of jobs.

Conclusion

While writing my thesis statement, I started with the introduction followed by the thesis statement, which has made it easy to build on the body of the work.

References

• Panchal, N., Kamal, R., Orgera, K., Cox, C., Garfield, R., Hamel, L., & Chidambaram, P. (2020). The implications of COVID-19 for mental health and substance use. Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Shroff, D. M., & Becker, S. P. (2021). Prospective impact of COVID-19 on mental health functioning in adolescents with and without ADHD: protective role of emotion regulation abilities. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
• American Psychological Association. (2020). Stress in America: Stress and your health. Retrieved from [URL]
• Holmes, E. A., O'Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., ... & Sweeney, A. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 512-513.
• Torales, J., O'Higgins, M., Agüero, J. M., & Villalobos, M. (2020). The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 317-320.
• Friedman, M. A., & Rojas, M. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on substance use and mental health. Current Psychiatry, 19(5), 1-8.
• Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C. S., & Ho, R. (2020). Immediate psychological distress in quarantined patients with COVID-19 and its association with peripheral inflammatory responses. Psychiatric Research, 291, 113240.
• Asal, V., McCarthy, R., & Keller, B. (2021). Mental health repercussions of COVID-19 emergency responses: a review of studies. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 89.
• World Health Organization. (2021). Mental health and substance use considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Retrieved from [URL]