The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people around the world. As the virus spread and people became ill restrictions were put into place to recduce the spread of the virus. This meant all of our lives have been majory disrupted, our social lives restricted, living in isolation or within an intense living situation, with constant reminders of the devastation going on outside.
Since the vaccine rollout it is looking hopeful that we can begin returning to some form of normaility, but what has over a year of this done for our mental health? It is likely that the focus will soon need to shift from our physical health onto our mental health, but how exactly have we been affected?
How is mental health affected by the pandemic?
In a survey it was found that in the UK 69% of surveyed adults were feeling some worry about the effect the pandemic is having on their life, with the main concerns being worried about the future (53%), feeling generally stressed or anxious (56%) and feeling bored (49%).
It has been shown that mental health has worsened from pre-pandemic levels, with different demographic groups being affected differently with young adults and women being hit the hardest. However, mental health symptoms fell in early June when lockdown measures were eased, but for some groups levels of anxiety and depression remained high despite this.
Reaosns for worsening mental health during the pandemic
Social isolation
Social isolation has been a major factor in the pandemic, but surprisingly it has been reported that the levels of people claiming to feel loneliness has not increased all that much since pre-pandemic. However, this is a subjective measure as social isolation can affect people in different ways aside from loneliness. One of those ways is domestic abuse, calls to the national helpline for domestic abuse were 49% higher than usual during the first 3 weeks of lockdown. The social isolation and lockdown also meant that many people didn’t have their usual friends/family that they would usually rely on as coping mechanisms.
Jobs and finances
There has been a huge amount of uncertainty surrounding jobs during the pandemic; as many were furloughed and businesses struggling to stay afloat withouth being open, resulting in over a third of full-time workers surveyed saying they were concerned about losing their job and thus being unable to keep up with rent payments, food etc. The financial stresses causes were just one factor of the affects on mental health. Work can also be a stimulating factor for many and being furloughed or losing a job could put an individual’s mental health at an additional risk.
What will happen moving forwards?
Above are some of the main effects on mental health which many individuals have experienced over the last year, but there are many more that will be felt by different people across the world. The longer lasting knock on effects of the mental health issues experienced during this pandemic will need careful monitoring.
What if you are struggling with your mental health?
As previously mentioned, there are a huge range of consequential effects being felt from the pandemic. If you feel that your mental health has been affected and you would like to speak with a Counsellor for some support, please do make the most of your access to Care first and the support available to you, Counsellors are available 24/7 and they will be able to offer support and provide useful resources that could help you to cope better with the strain from the past year.
More information
If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘How COVID-19 has affected our Mental Health’ this is being delivered live on Thursday 13th May at 12:00pm, please use the following link to register for this session –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6189437240419049740
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.
Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.