Story at a glance
- Michelle Obama spoke about her struggles with “low-grade depression,” during the challenges of 2020.
- “We had the continued killing of Black men at the hands of police. Just seeing the video of George Floyd, experiencing that eight minutes. That’s a lot to take on, not to mention being in the middle of a quarantine.”
- Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on Americans’ mental health.
Former first lady Michelle Obama recently opened up about her struggle with what she described as “low-grade depression” during the challenging events of 2020.
Last year brought an unprecedented global pandemic, a nationwide reckoning with racial injustice and police brutality, as well as a tense presidential election.
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In an interview with People magazine, Obama said she now recognizes she needed to allow herself space to process everything.
“We had the continued killing of Black men at the hands of police. Just seeing the video of George Floyd, experiencing that eight minutes. That’s a lot to take on, not to mention being in the middle of a quarantine,” she told the magazine.
“Depression is understandable during these times. I needed to acknowledge what I was going through, because a lot of times we feel like we have to cover that part of ourselves up, that we always have to rise above and look as if we’re not paddling hard underneath the water,” she said.
“This is what mental health is. You have highs and lows. What I have said to my daughters is that one of the things that is getting me through is that I’m old enough to know that things will get better,” she added.
The former first lady’s comments on mental health come after she first acknowledged dealing with depression in an episode of her podcast in September. She blamed, in part, the Trump administration’s response to the several crises for her depression.
Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on Americans’ mental health. More than half of Americans have said their mental health has suffered from stress, sleep loss, overeating and more alcohol consumption, while depression has quadrupled.
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