We are approaching our second winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have a lot more awareness about how our mental health affects our work and how we function in society.

In the spring of 2020, adults in the U.S. were three times as likely to suffer depression or anxiety as they were the year before. While getting treatment can be expensive, the costs of untreated mental illness are often higher.

“Untreated or undertreated mental health conditions related to increased absenteeism in the workplace, what they call presenteeism, which is being present, but lower productivity, and also higher turnover rates — business should be concerned about this because it does affect their bottom line,” said Judy Bass, associate professor in the department of mental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Bass said that pre-pandemic, those costs were pegged at $2 billion annually.

On the show today, we’ll discuss the economic costs of mental illness and the benefits of investing more in mental health care.

In the News Fix, we highlight a new report that warns of an emerging mental health crisis among young people in America.

Then we’ll hear from a listener who makes us smart about the pronunciation of “omicron,” and YouTube’s CEO answers the “Make Me Smart” question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “World Mental Health Day: an opportunity to kick-start a massive scale-up in investment in mental health” from the World Health Organization
• “Surgeon general warns of emerging youth mental health crisis in rare public advisory” from The Los Angeles Times
• “U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Youth Mental Health Crisis Further Exposed by COVID-19 Pandemic” from the Department of Health and Human Services
• “However You Pronounce ‘Omicron,’ You’re Probably Saying It Wrong” from The Wall Street Journal
• “YouTube makes the case for its ‘creative economy'” from “Marketplace Tech”

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-237-8255.