The CDC just added mood disorders like depression to a long list of mostly physical conditions that put people at high risk for severe coronavirus cases, and advocates believe it’s long overdue. “NAMI values the recognition by the CDC for the data that has emerged over the course of the pandemic showing people with depression and schizophrenia are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms,” says Christine Crawford, associate medical director at NAMI. “This update to the guidelines takes a holistic approach toward the impact of both mental and physical illness.” Dr. Crawford tells us that people with serious mental illness can experience constant stress that can reduce the body’s natural immune system defenses and this, in turn, can “increase their susceptibility to infection and make them more vulnerable to severe Covid-19 symptoms.” “It’s important for us as a society to kind of shift our thinking around that and to think about a condition such as depression, bipolar, and anxiety disorders as general medical conditions, because they are, and they’re also chronic medical conditions,” says Dr. Crawford.
