There was a spike in the number of people reporting significant levels of depression and anxiety immediately following the Prime Minister’s announcement of a lockdown on 23 March, a study has found. On Tuesday 24 March, 38 percent of study participants reported significant depression and 36 percent reported significant anxiety. On the day before the announcement, 16 percent reported significant depression and 17 percent reported significant anxiety.
The team of experts, led by Professor Richard Bentall at the University of Sheffield, carried out a psychological survey of 2,000 people between Monday 23 March and Friday 27 March using standardised measures of mental health. Participants, who were representative of the population in terms of age, sex and income, were asked in an online survey about their current circumstances, their understanding of COVID-19, what they are doing to cope, and psychological symptoms.
Read more at: https://neurosciencenews.com/covid-19-depression-16045/