Dynamics of psychological responses to Covid-19 in India: A longitudinal study

Abstract

To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, India announced a nationwide lockdown on 24th March 2020 for 21 days, later extended for a longer time. This long period of lockdown greatly disrupted routine life and likely affecting citizens psychological well-being. The psychological toll of the pandemic on Indians is documented. However, no study has assessed whether the psychological toll changed over time due to repeated extensions of the lockdown. We followed up 159 Indian adults during the first two months of the lockdown to assess any change in their anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms. Multilevel linear regression models of repeated observations nested within individuals, adjusted for socio-demographic covariates, showed that anxiety (β=0.81, CI: 0.03, 1.60), stress (β=0.51, CI: 0.32, 0.70), and depressive symptoms (β=0.37, CI: 0.13, 0.60) increased over time during the lockdown. This increase was higher among women than men independent of covariates. Individual resilience was negatively associated with the psychological outcomes. This suggests that the state needs to address the current mental health impacts of a long-drawn out lockdown and its long-term sequelae. Disproportionate burden on women needs immediate attention. Sustainable change requires addressing the root causes driving the gender inequalities in psychological distress during such crises.

Domestic violence and psychological problems in married women during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: A community-based survey

“…After multivariate analysis, none of the variables showed significant association with perceived stress. Other studies have observed that unemployed status and prior psychiatric history increased the risk of depression, anxiety and stress ( Solomou and Constantinidou, 2020 ; Gopal et al, 2020 ; Verma and Mishra, 2020 ). In a systematic review, unemployment and presence of psychiatric illnesses were found to be associated with psychological distress, among other risk factors like younger age group and presence of chronic illnesses ( Xiong et al, 2020 ).…”

Examining the implications of COVID19 on Mental Health Across Different Walks of Life Through the Lens of Literature Review

“…Therefore, authorities are encouraged to incorporate individual traits in crisis management research to help shape their public policy making. Gopal, Sharma, and Subramanyam (2020) conducted a study to explore the effects of extended lockdowns of COVID-19 on individuals. It was a longitudinal study that lasted from March till May.…”

“…These studies show an increased relapse rate or the worsening of psychiatric conditions in individuals with a history of psychiatric illnesses or currently having one. Failure to follow their psychiatric appointments, being out of medications, having lack of transportations, living in an environment of expression emotions, etc are all related to the worsening of their conditions (Dalal et al, 2020;Gopal, Sharma & Subramanyam, 2020;Hao et al, 2020;Imran, Zeshan & Pervaiz, 2020;Muruganandam et al, 2020). Migrant workers are also reported to be having an increased prevalence of anxiety due to several reasons like being fired, having no job security, no adequate pay, having no safe or fixed place to stay, etc.…”

“…Along with anxiety, the prevalence of depression has also been reported to have increased in each of the aforementioned population groups (Gopal, Sharma and Subramanyam, 2020;Hao et al, 2020;Özdin and Özdin, 2020;Sheraton et al, 2020;Shuja et al, 2020;Suryavanshi et al, 2020). Social distancing leading to social isolation, disruption of one's daily routines and functioning, inability to go out and have fun, repeated extensions of lockdowns, having no certainty about when the pandemic will be over, having a sedentary lifestyle due to lockdown, having direct (self) or indirect (family members, friends or loved ones) experiences with COVID-19, stuck living or working in an unwanted place or extreme conditions, and the like have been highlighted as the most prominent reasons for the increased prevalence of depression worldwide (Hao et al, 2020;Sheraton et al, 2020).…”

“…Resilience is a phenomenon that refers to the individual's capability to mentally and emotionally cope with a stressful event. Studies have reported individual's resilience to be negatively correlated with anxiety, stress and depression symptoms (Gopal, Sharma & Subramanyam, 2020) and thus, they have encouraged the authorities and societies as a whole to emphasize, to teach and practice building the resilience in an individual (Dalal et al, 2020;Serlachius, Badawy & Thabrew, 2020).…”