The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for all of us to navigate. It brought isolation in the form of quarantine, lost jobs, and harrowing medical journeys for many. The good news is that vaccines are starting to roll out in the US, and it looks like they will help us turn the page on this pandemic.
That being said, the impact of the pandemic is still being felt. The mental toll of the health crisis is going to have a lasting impact on us all. But some generations are feeling the brunt of this more than others and Gen Z is the prime example of this.
How the pandemic impacted Gen Z’s mental health
Our results show that the pandemic hit Gen Z the hardest from a mental health standpoint. There are several survey questions that give credence to this.
First, we asked our respondents if they have less control over their mental health today than they did before the pandemic. 24% of people over the age of 25 said that they had less control over their mental health today but 41% of Gen Z members said the same thing.
Additionally, the pandemic has caused many members of Gen Z to pick up bad habits, which are often tied to poor mental health outcomes. 38% of Gen Z members said that their habits are worse now than they were before the pandemic.
Additionally, 16% of Gen Z members said that the pandemic had a large negative effect on their mental health, while just 9% of people over 25 said the same thing.
Shifting attitudes towards therapy in the wake of the pandemic
Stats from the previous section show that a significant portion of Generation Z has been struggling with their mental health during the pandemic and in the wake of it. That’s led many of them to want to pursue therapy.
For example, our survey shows that 54% of Gen Z had considered or tried therapy before the pandemic but 62% had after it. That number was just 32% for all people over the age of 25.
How Gen Z sees online therapy
We also asked Gen Z about how they view online therapy in our survey. Although Gen Z is digitally native, 48% said that they prefer in-person therapy because they think that, for therapy to work, it must be done face-to-face.
That being said, 11% of Gen Z prefers online therapy to face-to-face and 41% said they have no preference between the two.
This indicates that about half of Gen Z believes that using online therapy is a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face counselling sessions.
Putting it all together
The data we collected with this survey suggests that Gen Z is having the toughest time in the wake of the pandemic. But it also says that this generation is fairly open to online therapy. And taking advantage of new opportunities in online therapy could be just what Gen Z needs to recover.
