Stricter Covid-19 measures linked with negative mental health: Lancet study

Mental health impacts associated with lockdowns were worse for women and women living in households with dependent children compared to men of all ages. Nationally, countries that attempted to eliminate community transmission of Covid-19 within their borders (eliminators) experienced equivalent or better fewer deaths and mental health trends during the pandemic than countries that attempted to control, rather than eliminate, transmission. transmission (mitigators) .

While the first study indicates that the type and timing of the pandemic lockdown play a factor in determining mental health impacts, the second study suggests that different groups feel them disproportionately. Together, the findings strengthen the notion that more stringent policy measures can lead to adverse mental health outcomes and that effective policies to contain the pandemic must go hand in hand with strategies and resources to address the mental health of the population in general and people at higher risk.

“This study adds to mounting evidence that extreme containment policies, particularly lockdowns that shut down schools and entire sectors of the economy, often enforced with a strict law-and-order approach, are most detrimental to mental health. than the virus itself and should be a reminder to policymakers that such policies must be designed and implemented with their impact on the population in mind,” said Dr. Vikram Patel, Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, Department of Health Global and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School. he said the indian express.

To assess how variation in Covid-19 policy restrictions affects mental health, the first study combined daily policy stringency data with mental health data captured bi-weekly from samples from 15 countries. Countries were grouped based on their response to Covid-19 from April 2020 to June 2021 as either eliminators (Australia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea) or mitigators (Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea). Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). In mitigating countries, there was a stronger link between harsh containment policies and lower life assessment compared to eliminator countries.

Looking at individual policies, those that lead to a loss of social connection and that were adopted primarily in mitigating countries (eg, restrictions on gatherings and stay-at-home requirements) were associated with greater psychological distress and ratings of lower lives. On the other hand, policies such as closures of schools, workplaces, public events, and public transportation, as well as restrictions on domestic travel, were not linked to mental health.

Study author Dr Rafael Goldszmidt says: “Our research shows that, in addition to the intensity of the pandemic itself, the type of pandemic response sought makes a difference to people’s mental health. Mitigation strategies may be associated with worse mental health outcomes, at least in part, because containment measures, such as long periods of confinement and physical distancing, can impede social connections. Strategies that aim to eliminate transmission while promoting early action and targeted rigor can reduce deaths while protecting people’s mental health in the process.” At the same time, governments must provide clear and consistent information on policy measures to increase residents’ confidence in the government’s handling of the pandemic, he added.