Psyche and Corona – Neuroscientists: “Stress has increased in the second wave” – ​​News

The psychological stress during the second wave has increased significantly compared to the spring. Stress researcher Dominique de Quervain presents this in a new survey , Link opens in a new windowfirmly. His third survey of the mental health status of the Swiss also shows a connection between infection and the psyche.

Dominique de Quervain

Neuroscientist

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Dominique de Quervain is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Basel and a member of the federal crown task force. Back in April and May 2020, he asked more than 10,000 people about their mental state, which now allows him to make comparisons with his mental state during the crown crisis.

SRF News: In your study, you find that crisis increases psychological stress. Does it act as a kind of fire accelerator?

Dominique de Quervain: Psychological stress has increased significantly compared to the first wave of spring. The first wave was still quite bearable. It wasn’t until the fall that many realized that the virus would linger longer. If you already have a psychological burden, the crisis can cause the barrel to overflow.

The proportion of people with severe depressive symptoms was 9 percent during the lockdown in April and 18 percent in November. The duplication is dramatic, right?

We are really seeing a dramatic increase. Young people between the ages of 14 and 24 suffer a lot. In this group, 29 percent show severe depressive symptoms. After that, it decreases according to age.

Are older generations more resilient?

This trend was already evident in previous surveys, but now it has become clearer. Boys are more affected by social restrictions, they are more afraid that someone close to them will get sick or die, and they are stressed in their training. Only 6 percent of those over 65 show severe depressive symptoms.

Although the elderly are at particular risk of contracting the virus.

That also amazed us. Older people are likely to be less affected by the measures in their daily routine and are financially secure. In addition, they have experienced a lot and therefore classify the pandemic differently. But people in the worst-hit industries also suffer from symptoms of stress.

Does this show that our well-being is directly related to material wealth?

If it becomes existential, definitely. It triggers great fears when someone is deprived of their financial support. But if he earns enough, it no longer matters for his well-being whether he receives 100 or 1000 francs more or not.

The French-speaking part of Switzerland, with a frequency of severe depressive symptoms of 22 percent, is more affected than the people of German-speaking Switzerland with 17 percent. Why is this so?

This reflects how severely the regions were affected by the pandemic at the time of the second wave. French-speaking Switzerland recorded significantly more Covid 19 cases, which also has an impact on mental health. Our study shows that the cantons with the highest number of cases also had higher values ​​of psychological stress. Therefore, there is a direct correlation between the strength of the second wave and the frequency of depressive symptoms.

Many people are feeling very tired now. When does this fatigue or stress become a problem?

When depressive symptoms reach a very stressful level. If someone observes this for several weeks and suffers from it, they should definitely seek help. No one can say how long this pandemic will last. For many, vaccination is something like the light at the end of the tunnel, which can also help us last a few more months.

Interview by Marc Lehmann.