Horowitz: Panic toll: New survey shows greater mental health crisis in US than other countries

Disproportionate Fear Horowitz: Panic toll: New survey shows greater mental health crisis in US than other countries
Daniel Horowitz · August 14, 2020

Imagine telling an entire generation of Americans that within the next few months, they all have a significant chance of contracting pancreatic cancer unless they do as we say? Just think of the mental health and behavioral crisis such hyperbole would cause. Well, that is exactly what our government and media have successfully pushed on our society by treating every positive case of coronavirus as if it is a death sentence. Disproportionate fear and panic create a disproportionate mental health crisis.

A new survey by the Commonwealth Fund reveals that Americans have a higher level of anxiety about the virus than any other Western country surveyed. The nonprofit health care research outlet conducted a mental health survey of 8,200 adults in the U.S. and nine other high-income countries: Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. They found that 33 percent of the U.S. adults – the highest rate of any of the countries – reported experiencing levels of stress, anxiety, and sadness and are having a difficult time coping with the situation.

Here is the country-by-country breakdown presented by the Commonwealth Fund:

Notice how people in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway exhibit the lowest rates of anxiety? Those are countries that have flatly rejected universal mask-wearing and, to varying degrees, other draconian measures. -- excerpt, rest at link above --