COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the Santé publique de la métropole.The survey found that mental health took a dive in September 2020 but improved when lockdown measures were eased the following spring.Easing restrictions appeared to have a beneficial effect on Montrealers’ levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, which have since stabilized.
Véronique Nadeau-Grenier, who works for the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île de Montréal, points out that it’s “still higher than you would normally expect.”In February 2021, one in three Montrealers reported to have symptoms associated with generalized anxiety disorder or depression.“It’s a lot of people anyway,” she said.Elsewhere in Quebec, around one in five people reported the same.