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The countries hardest hit by the pandemic are also facing the greatest psychological distress
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In a current study, a team of researchers quantifies the extent of mental illnesses that can be traced back to the corona pandemic.
In the first year of the pandemic alone, the number of cases of depression and panic attacks increased by more than a quarter worldwide.
According to the study, the pandemic last year caused 52 million more people worldwide to develop depressive disorders.
At the same time, there were 76 million additional cases of anxiety disorders that would not have existed without the pandemic.
The results have been published in the journal "The Lancet".
For the study, the team analyzed data from North America, Europe and East Asia, among others, and created a model for the expected occurrence of depression and anxiety.
According to the results, the countries hardest hit by the pandemic also faced the greatest psychological distress.
There was a close connection between high numbers of Covid cases, restrictions such as school closings or lockdowns and increased rates of depression and anxiety.
Women particularly badly affected
According to the study, younger people and women are disproportionately affected by the increase in both mental illnesses. The pandemic measures exacerbated existing health and social inequalities in most countries, the researchers interpret the result. The additional care and household duties were therefore mainly carried out by women. Women were also much more likely to be victims of domestic violence in the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic, an enormous proportion of the population suffered from depression and anxiety disorders.
Had the pandemic not occurred, the researchers would have expected 193 million cases of depression worldwide.
In fact, 246 million cases were observed last year.
For anxiety, the models predicted 298 million cases worldwide without Covid-19, while the actual number of cases hit 374 million last year, according to the study.
The relative increase in the two diseases was accordingly 28 and 26 percent.
However, the researchers themselves limit the fact that the situation in many poorer countries has not been adequately recorded and their results for these parts of the world are therefore based on estimates.
According to the study, the data situation needs to be improved.
The results made it clear that mental health services "urgently need to be strengthened to cope with the growing burden of major depression and anxiety disorders worldwide," said lead author Damian Santomauro of the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland in Australia .
Even in Germany, it usually takes a long time for people to find therapeutic help.
Even before Corona, around 2,400 psychotherapeutic offers were missing in Germany.
In the corona crisis, the situation for those seeking help worsened again, as some psychotherapeutic practices did not accept new patients and suspend face-to-face appointments.
At the same time, the need is great: around every seventh person in Germany has an anxiety disorder (read more here).
Children and young people are also particularly at risk
Many researchers also see children as particularly at risk from the pandemic.
According to a recent survey by the United Nations Children's Fund Unicef, one in five people between the ages of 15 and 24 often feels depressed or has little interest in doing something.
In Germany, this was even stated by one in four of the young people surveyed (24 percent).
Unicef makes a direct reference to the effects of the pandemic: "According to the latest available data from Unicef, at least one in seven children worldwide is directly affected by lockdowns, while more than 1.6 billion children have suffered a certain loss of education." The interruption routines, education and recreation, as well as concerns about family income and health, would result in fear, anger and concern about their future for many young people.
In an interview with SPIEGEL (here you can find the complete interview), the German child and adolescent psychiatrist Oliver Dierssen also describes an increase in depression and suicidal thoughts among his young patients.
"We had to change our entire way of working in order to be able to deal with the many emergencies," he says.
Many of those affected lack hope, joy, vitality and drive.
Warning signs are when children get worse at school, no longer want to go to the sports club, sleep poorly, eat less or gain weight.
irb / AFP
