In 2020 Chantelle Fogg was 23 and the primary carer for her teenage brother. She had been stood down without pay from her job in hospitality and was in a marriage that was breaking down.
“I had put up with [a lot] for [many] years … and it wasn’t until I was at home all the time, and it was in my face and I couldn’t hide from it any more, that I decided that I’d had enough,” she said.
Fogg was living in a small town in Queensland’s Western Downs where she was born and had lived her entire life, hiding the fact she was bisexual and managing feelings of depression and anxiety stemming from a troubled childhood.
At a low point during the pandemic, Fogg was suicidal and turned to alcoholism before she experienced “an awakening”.
“I was like, I’m tired of apologising for who I am,” she said. “I’ve spent my entire life running from who I am, to paint a picture or to be a part of an image that pleases other people and makes other people happy – or doesn’t make them uncomfortable – but I’m miserable.”
She decided to move to Brisbane, thinking, “I’m ready to actually get to be who I am and be that freely.”
A ‘more nuanced story’ of youth mental health
A study from researchers at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney has found women and gender- and sexuality-diverse people were more likely to experience chronically elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety over two years of the pandemic.
The paper, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, followed the mental health of the same group of 653 young adults aged 18-34 from July 2020 and June 2022 as part of the national Alone Together Study.
The lead author, Amarina Donohoe-Bales, said while a narrative had emerged that all young people experienced worse mental health during the pandemic, “our study tells a more nuanced story”.
It found most of the young adults (58.3%-63.9%) had mild or no symptoms of depression or anxiety while approximately one-third (30.5%-31.1%) experienced moderate to severe symptoms.
The researchers found women and LGBTQ+ people were approximately twice as likely to experience more severe mental health trajectories throughout the two years of the pandemic.
“What makes our study unique is that it focuses on a population group that have largely been forgotten – so these are young adults, who fit between the period of adolescence and adulthood,” Donohoe-Bales said.
“Young adulthood really is a critical period of development, typically characterised by major life transitions like leaving from home, career development, greater independence – and while it’s a really exciting time, it’s also a period marked by increased vulnerability to the onset of mental ill health,” she said.
“We know that about three-quarters of common mental health disorders occur before 25.”
Dr Caitlin Hitchcock, a clinical psychologist and senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne who was not involved in the study, said it was one of the first in Australia to look at the mental health of this age bracket during the pandemic.
“Significant life changes happen in ages 18 to 34. I use the example of parenthood – we know the incidence of peri- or postnatal depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges that can come along with becoming a parent are more likely to impact this age group, relative to other age groups,” Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock said the elevated mental health difficulties of women during the pandemic could indicate they took on more of a burden at home, with other research demonstrating that new mothers were particularly affected by the pandemic.
The study’s findings which show that women and LGBTQ+ people were more vulnerable reflects data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and previous research that showed patterns of poor mental health in these groups even before the pandemic.
The authors acknowledge the limitation of the study’s sample not being representative of the Australian young adult population, as well as the lack of pre-pandemic data limiting the understanding of whether Covid necessarily caused any worsening in mental health.
Georgia Evans, now 19, said her feelings of depression and anxiety began around the pandemic, at the same time as she started exploring her identity and sexuality. Evans, who uses she/they pronouns, came to identify with the LGBTQ+ community in 2021.
“I didn’t really have a support system to work through that with. I was … struggling to accept myself in the beginning, and I was confused about how other people were going to accept me as well,” she said.
Evans said her friends proved to be supportive when she came out to them, and her symptoms of anxiety and depression have since improved. But she adds: “I’m still dealing with the ongoing repercussions, still trying to get a good work-life balance. I want to get back to studying at some point.”
Luke Mitchell, who is a peer leader at the mental health charity Youth Insearch alongside Fogg, said it was important for young people in the LGBTQ+ community to be connected with each other. The vulnerability of queer people to mental health problems during the pandemic was exacerbated by the lack of social interactions during lockdowns, Mitchell said.
Linda Williams, the clinical lead at youth mental health organisation ReachOut, said young adults often experienced financial challenges and, for those under 25, the brain was still developing, leading to challenges in terms of relationships and social development.
“It’s important to realise that it’s not like you turn 18, and you’ve magically got everything all sorted.”
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
