A Pandemic, Not a Mental Health Crisis – Skånska Dagbladet

Contrary to some previous alarm reports, the pandemic does not seem to have dealt a severe blow to people’s mental health. When Canadian researchers reviewed 137 studies, mostly from high-income European and Asian countries, they saw no significant negative effect.

Overall, in the database, general mental health and anxiety score did not change before and after the start of the epidemic. On the other hand, depression symptoms increased slightly.

Women, the elderly, college students and those belonging to sexual minorities seem to have been affected somewhat more than others. In those groups, a certain increase in depression and anxiety was noted, among other things.

The study published in The BMJ Journal, somewhat inconsistent with other published research. According to the researchers behind it, this is explained, among other things, by the fact that other studies have looked at people who already suffer from mental illness or that they have dealt with small studies.

In the new analysis, the researchers only included studies where there was information about mental health before and after the outbreak of the pandemic in at least 90 percent of the participants, or instead used statistical methods that compensated for the loss.

Brett Thomps, a professor of psychiatry and one of the researchers behind the study, told the Guardian that there was anecdotal evidence of declining mental health during the pandemic, but that this was based on anecdotes or smaller studies.

Claims that mental health has deteriorated during the pandemic based on individual studies are just snapshots. She told the newspaper that most people haven’t made comparisons over a long period of time.

The researchers behind the study point out that although their findings point to the fact that there is no general increase in mental illness, they should not be interpreted as saying that the pandemic has not had negative effects on specific groups.

In a commentary on the study, two Danish researchers write that although the findings suggest that we need not be overly concerned about the impact of the pandemic on general mental health, there is a problem in society that mental illness is on the rise, not least among young people. People who need attention.