Internet searches for the phrase “panic attack” soared to record levels at the start of the coronavirus crisis, reveals new research.
The discovery has raised fears that the Covid-19 pandemic could trigger a mental health crisis.
But experts say that assessing how widespread mental health problems are is difficult to quantify.
Dr. John Ayers, who specialises in monitoring the health needs of the public, said: “Traditional public health surveillance lacks the agility to provide on-demand insights.
“As a result, when public leaders need real time data to inform their responses to Covid-19’s mental health burdens, all that can be mustered is theoretical speculation.”
But a new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, led by Dr. Ayers and Dr. Alicia Nobles, of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), found evidence of a “record high” in potential anxiety attacks or panic attacks through Google searches.
The research team analysed Google search queries that mentioned “panic attack” or “anxiety attack” emerging from the United States from January 2004 through to May 9th this year. These included queries like “am I having a panic attack?,” “signs of anxiety attack” or “anxiety attack symptoms.”
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The team studied anxiety attacks because they are a common mental health problem, can lead to other mental health problems such as depression, and are triggered by outside stressors, and – especially relevant during a pandemic – are socially contagious.
Evaluating trends after President Trump first declared a national emergency on March 13 this year to assess the impact of Covid-19 the team discovered severe acute anxiety related searches reached record highs.
The largest increases in queries occured between March 16 and April 14, cumulatively increasing 17 per cent.
The increases coincided with the roll out of national social distancing guidelines and their extension, the US surpassing China with the most reported cases, recommending face masks, and the US surpassing Italy for most deaths.
Queries returned to typical levels by April 15 through to the end of the study.
Dr. Benjamin Althouse, a Principal Scientist at the Institute for Disease Modeling, said: “In practical terms, over the first 58 days of the COVID-19 pandemic there were an estimated 3.4 million total searches related to severe acute anxiety in the United States.
“In fact, searches for anxiety and panic attacks were the highest they’ve ever been in over 16 years of historical search data.”
(Image: Getty)
Study co-author Dr. Eric Leas, an Assistant Professor in the UCSD Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, said: “The pandemic and our public health response, while warranted based on early evidence, could have many unintended and collateral health impacts.
“Our results provide among the first insights into understanding those impacts.”
Dr Ayers said: “A panic attack is not to be taken lightly as it can land someone in the emergency room with shortness of breath, a pounding heart, chest pain, and an intense feeling of fear.
“As a result, our results unquestionably warrant a need for increased mental health services.”
The researchers said that one such example is the Call4Calm hotline in Illinois that supports those suffering with acute anxiety.
Co-author Dr. Derek Johnson, a Research Fellow in the UCSD Department of Medicine, said: “Similar hotlines should be rolled out nationally and prominently featured in the search results of those seeking help online.
“Similar applications to suicide have had tremendous benefits on public health and saved lives.”
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Co-author Professor Mark Dredze, of Johns Hopkins University, said: “The value of monitoring queries goes beyond acute anxiety.
“For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic we first detected spikes in shopping for unproven therapies and shopping for guns using similar methods, and these can be further extended across public and mental health topics.”
Co-author Dr. Adam Poliak, a Research Fellow in Computer Science at Barnard College, said: “It may take years to fully comprehend the societal fallout of Covid-19.
“With time, we may find that many more wraparound services will be needed to respond to other collateral impacts and our rapid data driven approach could be used for targeting and prioritizing responses to those impacts.”
Dr Nobels added: “In theory, decision makers could track searches for hundreds of mental health problems, identify the subset that have greatest volume, and target resources to meet those needs.
“As political and policy leaders debate where to spend health resources to address the mental health burdens of Covid-19, timely, empirical evidence like we provide can ensure that limited resources are allocated to the most dire needs.”
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