Young People Get Hit Harder by Loneliness

Amidst the pandemic, many people are facing mental health issues due to the lockdowns imposed. But people under age 30 and with pre-existing mental health issues are having a harder time, European study shows.

Data on mental health was //collected and analyzed from Denmark, France, The Netherlands, and the UK, during the first lockdown (March 2020 – June 2020).

Assistant Prof Tibor V Varga states that the study focused on different mental health factors like loneliness, anxiety, and COVID-19 related worries. Results showed that young people and people with pre-existing mental health illnesses were observed to have the highest loneliness levels.

"Psychological stress is a prominent risk factor for future long-term and severe mental illness. Therefore, it is very important to know how lockdowns affect people, so we have a better chance of preventing long-term consequences," he adds.

Months of March and early April were observed to experience the highest levels of loneliness and anxiety in all four countries. As the lockdowns were gradually lifted, the levels of loneliness and anxiety slowly decreased.

The subgroups that have been identified by the study to be particularly prone to experiencing loneliness and anxiety should be monitored closely to prevent any challenges in the future. Mental health reactions seem to be very similar in all four countries, even though they took different approaches to handle the pandemic.

"Mental health has emerged as a quite important parallel concern of this pandemic… People under 30 and people with a history of mental illness could benefit from tailored public-health interventions to prevent or counteract the negative effects of the pandemic," says Professor Naja Hulvej Rod.

Another Danish research project named 'Standing together – at a distance' has been continuously collecting Danish data, and data from June 2020 until now also confirms that lockdown impacts anxiety, worries, and loneliness during the pandemic.

Source-Medindia