COVID-19 and psychological distress: Lessons for India

Abstract

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly altered the routine of life and caused unanticipated changes resulting in severe psychological responses and mental health crisis. The study aimed to identify psycho-social factors that predicted distress among Indian population during the spread of novel Coronavirus. Method An online survey was conducted to assess the predictors of distress. A global logistic regression model was built, by identifying significant factors from individual logistic regression models built on various groups of independent variables. The prediction capability of the model was compared with the random forest classifier. Results The respondents (N = 1060) who are more likely to be distressed, are in the age group of 21-35 years, are females (OR = 1.425), those working on site (OR = 1.592), have pre-existing medical conditions (OR = 1.682), do not have health insurance policy covering COVID-19 (OR = 1.884), have perceived seriousness of COVID-19 (OR = 1.239), have lack of trust in government (OR = 1.246) and whose basic needs’ fulfillment are unsatisfactory (OR = 1.592). The ones who are less likely to be distressed, have higher social support and psychological capital. Random forest classifier correctly classified 2.3% and 17.1% of people under lower and higher distress respectively, with respect to logistic regression. Conclusions This study confirms the prevalence of high distress experienced by Indians at the time of COVID-19 and provides pragmatic implications for psychological health at macro and micro levels during an epidemiological crisis.

“Compared to COVID, HIV is nothing”: exploring how onshore international students in an Australian City navigate COVID-19 versus BBV/STI risk

“…The result of this study showed that mental health distress associated with social isolation and COVID anxiety was common among the study participants. Though pandemic related distress is not restricted to international students, as it is also commonly reported among the general population [37][38][39][40] and young people [41][42][43][44][45] , the level of distress faced by international students may be higher because of intersecting vulnerabilities including the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on daily sustenance 10 , xenophobic reactions 10 and disruptions to learning [46][47] . Considering that the study population are young people from largely conservative cultures where mental health issues are stigmatized 7 , not having access to adequate or contextualized mental health services and support could increase the likelihood of seeking relief from pleasurable activities such as sex, as reported by some participants.…”

“Compared to COVID, HIV is nothing”: exploring how onshore international students in an Australian City navigate COVID-19 versus BBV/STI risk

“…The result of this study showed that mental health distress associated with social isolation and COVID anxiety was common among the study participants. Though pandemic related distress is not restricted to international students, as it is also commonly reported among the general population [31][32][33] and young people [34][35][36][37][38] , the level of distress faced by international students may be higher because of intersecting vulnerabilities including the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on daily sustenance and xenophobic reactions 10 as well as disruptions to learning 39,40 . Considering that the study population are young people from largely conservative cultures where mental health issues are stigmatized 7 , not having access to adequate or contextualized mental health services and support could increase the likelihood of seeking relief from pleasurable activities such as sex, as reported by some participants.…”

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health

“…But this swift change in people's daily life in the form of loss of freedom and dissociation from family members led to dramatic consequences. Confinement of physical space, lack of mobility, fear of contraction, loss of income, hopelessness and growing ambiguity along with uncertainty and unpredictability over the disease were some of the observed collective experiences affecting the wellbeing during lockdown [4]. COVID-19 led to roughly 5-20% contraction of global economy which could result in an increased poverty rate for the first time since 1990 with Asia, Africa and Latin America enduring the hardest blow [5].…”

“…Roughly 80 million children of under 1 year missed their routine vaccination while an estimated 38% increase in maternal mortality was registered due to health system disruption resulting from COVID [5]. This sudden human tragedy required heavy adjustment and was difficult to adapt quickly as we humans are gregarious in nature and always need social connect in our lives especially during a crisis [4]. This was the largest psychological experiment ever conducted as 1/3rd of the world's population was living under some kind of lockdown, dealing with an intense stressor called "loneliness" [7].…”