Long-Term Mental Health Impact of a COVID-19 Outbreak

Post by Ifrah Khanyaree

What's the science?

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense psychological distress worldwide and has been associated with an increased risk for mental illness. This week in Molecular Psychiatry, Benjamin and colleagues evaluated the long-term mental health and behavioural effects of the pandemic in a large cohort of Israeli adults.

How did they do it?

The authors collected responses from 4933 participants using a two-part online survey. The initial questionnaire covered demographic data, participants’ medical history, and COVID-19 related physiological symptoms. The second part asked for the effects of COVID-19 on participants' psychological and emotional well-being using clinically validated questionnaires. The questionnaire was to be answered once a day in a 6 week period after the end of the first outbreak and for the beginning of the second wave.

What did they find?

First, the authors focused on finding out the underlying causes of psychological distress among the population. They discovered that most people were more concerned with the situation in their country and people close to them contacting the virus in comparison to their own personal health or financial situation. Second, they looked into demographic differences and found that women reported higher general distress and stress-related physiological symptoms. Age-wise, younger participants reported significantly higher general emotional distress. The authors also looked into how socioeconomic (SE) status affected mental health in the pandemic and found that those of a lower SE status reported lower levels of national and global concern. Individuals who were unemployed reported significantly higher scores for personal emotional distress. Lastly, a positive correlation was seen between increasing COVID cases and participants’ scores on all the distress levels measured.                              

What's the impact?

This study is the first to show mental health and behavioural effects on an adult population from the first peak of a COVID-19 outbreak to the start of another. The authors found that the highest mental health burden was associated with being young, unemployed and female. These results provide further evidence of the long-term unequal strain the pandemic has had on parts of our society. The study builds an important foundation for doing further work into investigating how our environment shapes our emotional well-being and how the mental health effects of the pandemic will unfold over time.    

Benjamin et al. Stress-related emotional and behavioural impact following the first COVID-19 outbreak peak. Molecular Psychiatry (2021). Access the original scientific publication here.