The corona pandemic has so far had little effect on people’s mental health, according to a comparison of 150 studies worldwide by researchers at Amsterdam UMC. This conclusion is striking, because it was previously thought that measures such as lockdowns led to more gloom and fear.
The researchers say that “on average people only suffer slightly more from gloom and anxiety”. The effect of the pandemic on mental health was therefore very large in the short term, but much smaller in the long term.
The number of people diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and the number of suicides remained the same.
The conclusions of the Amsterdam UMC say something about adults in general. The negative impact of the pandemic on mental health among certain “risk groups” such as young adults and those with economic difficulties is greater.
These kinds of complaints are common among people who became seriously ill after a corona infection. This concerns, for example, fatigue, cognitive problems, depression and anxiety symptoms that sometimes last for months.
The studies that were looked at are mainly from 2020 and 2021 and came from countries around the world. The results mainly concern people in Europe, North America and Asia. In South America and Africa, very little research has been done into the pandemic.