What are the mental health and behavioral impacts of covid as we enter year three of the pandemic?

Admit it, you're tired of the pandemic, yearning for the times when Delta was just an airline, and Omicron was a little-known ancient Greek God, notably unhappy when people lived in peace.

Thanks to his namesake variant, and two full years of COVID, lots of people are unhappy now and few of us have had long-term peace.

One study even determined depressive and anxiety disorders are up 28% globally during the pandemic.

Even as Northeast Ohio is seeing a downward trend in COVID cases, we’re still reminded that Ohio as a whole has lost 32,000 people.

How are we coping with that loss, and the rest of the bad news?

It's understandable that folks here and around the world, are worn out at paying the cost of the pandemic, being constantly cooped up, short on supplies, unable to trust others, and the rest of our fears.

Today, we'll discuss the mental and behavioral affect of the coronavirus pandemic with three experts, including a psychologist who will tell us about the impact of constantly dwelling on the challenges we face.

We’re also joined by a behavioral scientist who’s seen the change in attitudes over the years, and a reporter who’s been covering how we are responding to the ongoing pandemic.

Later in the hour, a conversation with New York Times reporter John Leland. He has a new book out, “Happy Is A Choice”, that examines life lessons from his conversations with several individuals over the age of 85.

He also had a series in The Times that recently ended, as his last participant passed away.  

- Eileen Anderson, Director, The Medical Humanities Program, Case Western Reserve University

- Dawn Potter, PsyD, Behavioral Psychologist, The Cleveland Clinic

- Eleanor Cummins, Freelance Writer and Reporter; Vox, The New Republic, and The Atlantic

- John Leland, Reporter “85 and Up”, The New York Times