You may be feeling profoundly sad right now. For yourself, for your family, for the world. Or you may be feeling anxious. Or angry. Goaded beyond endurance, yet helpless to do anything about it. 

These days, six out of every 10 Americans are right there with you, increasingly stressed and depressed.*  Your feelings are valid, and you are not alone.

Before the pandemic and the riots, you could shake it off. You could move out of your sadness and anger by talking with a friend, focusing on the positive, directing your hands to a project, or watching an uplifting movie. 

But now, shaking it off may not be working as well as it did. The news seems to get darker every day. Job opportunities seem further out of reach. The isolation, the worry and grief for ill or lost family members, all may feel heavier than you can bear. 

Don’t try to ignore these feelings. Emotional pain, just like physical pain, is a warning sign telling you it’s time to get help before it gets worse. 

Here at Saratoga Hospital, we offer several resources to help you move through any escalating anxiety, sadness, anger, hopelessness, or other feelings you may be experiencing. You can find behavioral health services in our Primary Care practices, including medication management and counseling at Saratoga Community Health Center, as well as substance abuse and behavioral health counseling through our Addiction Medicine services. You are a valuable member of our community. We are here for you.

And if your emotional pain has worsened, please remember: no matter how deep the despair, how immobilizing the hopelessness, there is reason for life, and there are many resources to help you find it. 

If you, or someone you know, is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:

• Call 911 or your local emergency number.
• Stay with the person until help arrives.
• Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
• Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.

And if you, or someone you know, is considering suicide, please call one of these numbers right away: 

• Suicide Prevention Coalition of Saratoga County: 1-800-273-8255
• National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8225 
• Samaritans Suicide Prevention Center Hot Line: 1-518- 689-4673
• Saratoga County Crisis Line Hot Line: 1-518-584-9030

Whether you have struggled with suicide yourself, or have lost a loved one, you can find support at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention or Project Semicolon. The semicolon represents the choice to go on, like an author who could’ve ended their sentence, but chose not to. 

Whatever your worry, your fear, or your pain, we are here to help you choose to go on. You are not alone. SaratogaHospital.org. 

* COVID Impact Survey by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation