[ad_1]
The well-being of New Zealanders plummeted during the country’s national shutdown, according to the research, and nearly a third experienced “moderate to severe psychological distress,” especially the young.
On March 15, Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, ordered the total closure of the country’s borders and on March 26 the total population of five million entered a strict lockdown.
From an infection standpoint, the lockdown worked, but the social cost is still understood, including higher rates of depression, anxiety, and domestic abuse, as well as widespread sleep problems.
On the 19th and 22nd of the nearly five-week close, Dr. Susanna Every-Palmer of the University of Otago, director of psychological medicine, surveyed 2,000 Kiwis about their well-being and mental health, including questions about their levels of depression and anxiety. , the state of your health. family relationships and whether they were experiencing positive side effects from the confinement.
Every-Palmer found that “nearly a third of the participants experienced mental distress during confinement,” 30% reported moderate to severe psychological distress, and 16% had moderate to high anxiety levels.
Almost 40% said their level of well-being was low.
“The New Zealand blockade successfully removed Covid-19 from the community, but our results show that this achievement brought a significant psychological toll,” Every-Palmer said.
Substantially higher distress rates were seen among those who reported losing their jobs or experiencing a reduction in work as a result of the pandemic, those who had potential vulnerabilities to Covid-19, or identified their health status as poor, and those who that he had a previous diagnosis of mental illness. “
The research also found that confinement affected different age groups in different ways, with a much higher level of mental distress in younger adults, and nearly half of those between the ages of 18 and 24 experienced moderate psychological distress. a severe compared to less than one in 10 adults. over 65 years old.
Every-Palmer said her team assumed this was caused by higher levels of well-being among older age groups prior to going into lockdown, and higher levels of resilience learned from past exposure to adversity.
One in 10 people also reported experiencing some form of domestic abuse during confinement, corresponding to similar research results from China, the United States, Brazil and Australia.
However, the psychological impact of the confinement was not all bad, Every-Palmer said, and 62% of those surveyed said there were some pleasant aspects, such as working from home, spending more time with family and living in a more environment. quiet and less polluted.
“People reported that they took the opportunity to pause, reflect, consider priorities, recreate healthy habits, and appreciated the environmental benefits of reducing travel.”
Dr. Dougal Sutherland, a clinical psychologist at Victoria University of Wellington, said the findings were valuable as they were captured in real time.
“Although the study couldn’t tell us exactly what it was that people found stressful about the confinement, it is likely that a combination of health anxiety and concern about the potential economic consequences of Covid-19 played a role,” Sutherland said.
