Measuring The Impact Of Covid-19 On Mental Health

Looking back to the beginning of the pandemic with its repeated lockdowns, loss of the freedom to move, not being able to meet people or socialise, seeing so many suffer and die, it seems like we’ve come through a war.

And with it we’re suffering the fallout from having been existing in a warzone. Much of that affects our mental health and as yet no one can even guess at the toll it’s taken.

What we do know is that Covid-19 has caused a tsunami of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychological and mental distress.

According to Faraz Mughal of Keele University, Staffs, and colleagues, living with young children, pre-existing chronic or mental illness, being young, female, and having frequent exposure to pandemic news are all risk factors associated with distress.

Rates of suicidal thoughts increased in people aged 18-29 during the pandemic, highlighting the particular mental toll of Covid on young people.