As per The BMJ research published, the general population’s mental health has not significantly changed during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-epidemic levels. According to the researchers, changes have been low to minor, even though some particular groups, notably women, appear to have been more adversely affected.
Several research and media reports claim that COVID-19 has caused a general decrease in mental health, although these claims may be false because of inconsistent study quality and incorrect interpretation of cross-sectional data.
Researchers studied 137 studies that compared pre-covid evaluations with general mental health, anxiety, and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers had to submit information from cohorts with at least 90% of the same individuals during the pre-pandemic and pandemic eras, or they had to utilize statistical techniques to fill in the gaps where data was missing.
The majority of the qualifying research was from upper-middle-income nations, and they had undergone extensive bias testing before being considered for the study.
Standardized mean differences were used to describe differences between groups (SMD). An SMD of less than 0.2 often denotes a little effect, one between 0.2 and 0.5 a moderate effect, and one of 0.8 or more a big effect. Studies on the general population reported no changes in mental health or anxiety, however, depression symptoms did worsen (SMD change 0.12).
Among several categories, female participants had worsening symptoms as compared to other categories. The researchers believe that this is in line with data showing that the epidemic has disproportionately affected female members of society. Among older individuals, college students, and those who self-identified as members of a sexual or gender minority group, depression symptoms deteriorated slightly, but not significantly, compared to other categories.
The researchers accept the fact that the finding is based on a limited number of studies and participants, but it was demonstrated that parents’ general mental health and anxiety symptoms deteriorated.
For individuals with pre-existing mental health disorders, it was demonstrated that both overall mental health and the symptoms of depression improved. This improvement was considered insignificant and these results were based on only two investigations.
Researchers from Denmark stated that the reported rates of mental health symptoms are still on the higher side. They conclude that because this assessment fails to explain why any deteriorations happened or if they may have happened even without the pandemic, it points to a deeper, non-COVID-19-related issue. To aid in providing answers to these crucial topics, more study is necessary.
The researchers wrote:
“Across population groups, results suggest that, rather than a mental health crisis, at a population level there has been a high level of resilience during COVID-19, and changes in general mental health, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms have been minimal to small with no changes detected in most analyses. Nevertheless, they say the pandemic has affected the lives of many people, and urge governments to “continue to ensure that mental health supports are available and respond to population needs.”
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