The Severity of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: Recommendations From Joint Work of Research Center and Psychology Clinics in COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the psychological stability of general population of Pakistan. However, research on the severity of COVID-19 induced depression, anxiety, and stress (DAS) in Pakistan is scarce. This paper thereby investigates the severity of COVID-19 induced DAS based on demographic, socioeconomic, and personal feeling variables by modeling DAS. Snowball sampling strategy was adopted to conduct online survey from July 03, 2021 to July 09, 2021. Out of 2,442, 2,069 responses from Karachi were included. Descriptive and inferential statistics (binary and multinomial logistic regression analysis) were performed using SPSS V21 (IBM, 2013) to identify significant determinants and their association with DAS severity. The result of this study indicates 27.8, 21.7, and 18.3% respondents suffer from severe and extremely severe states of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Binary logistic regression revealed that age is a significant determinant with odds of having 4.72 (95% CI = 1.86–11.97) and 5.86 (95% CI = 2.26–15.2) times greater depression, and stress for respondents aged 19–26 years. Moreover, gender-based difference is also observed with females 1.34 (95% CI = 1.08–1.68) and 1.75 (95% CI = 1.40–2.20) times more likely to exhibit anxiety and stress than males. Furthermore, marital status is a significant determinant of depression with odds of having depression is 0.67 (95% CI = 0.48–0.93) times greater for married population. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that those who believe COVID-19 pandemic has affected them mentally, fear new COVID-19 cases and deaths, depressed due to imposition of lockdown, believe they will not survive COVID-19 infection, and spend more time on social media gathering COVID-19 updates suffer from extremely severe state of depression (OR mental-effect-of-pandemic = 3.70, OR new-COVID-19-cases-and-deaths = 2.20, OR imposition-of-lockdown = 17.77, OR survival-probability = 8.17, OR time-on-social-media = 9.01), anxiety (OR mental-effect-of-pandemic = 4.78, OR new-COVID-19-cases-and-deaths = 3.52, OR imposition-of-lockdown = 5.06, OR survival-probability = 8.86, OR time-on-social-media = 5.12) and stress (OR mental-effect-of-pandemic = 6.07, OR imposition-of-lockdown = 11.38, OR survival-probability = 15.66, OR time-on-social-media = 4.39). Information regarding DAS severity will serve as a platform for research centers and psychological clinics, to work collectively and provide technology-based treatment to reduce the burden on the limited number of psychologist and psychotherapist.

The effect of Covid-19 on the mental health of the people in the Indian subcontinent: A scoping review

“…The prevalence of anxiety among various population groups ranges from 2.5% to 57.2% [ 11 , 25 , 31 , 35 , 36 ]. Around 31% of front-line healthcare workers (HCWs) reported anxiety [ 24 ].…”

“…Around 31% of front-line healthcare workers (HCWs) reported anxiety [ 24 ]. In Bangladesh, residents reported mild to moderate anxiety [ 25 ] whereas in Pakistan severe and extremely severe anxiety was reported [ 36 ] and medical health workers (doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals) reported borderline to abnormal anxiety (37.17%) [ 24 ]. There was a statistically significant correlation between working in a primary or secondary level healthcare facility and having higher levels of anxiety among surgeons [ 37 ].…”

“…The prevalence of depression among residents of North India is reported to be 3.5% [ 35 ]; whereas in Pakistan 29.8% of severe and extremely severe cases of depression were identified [ 36 ]. Among geriatric population, 18.87% had depressive symptoms during covid-19 [ 26 ] whereas females (64.3%), those under the age of 23 (62.8%), and the unemployed (77%) also had a higher prevalence of depressed symptoms [ 12 ].…”

“…Similarly, medical health workers (doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals) (19.12%), front-line healthcare workers (17.6%) [ 24 ]. Married respondents were found to be strongly associated with depression [ 36 ]. According to the results of one study, depression is predicted by life occurrences and a history of psychiatric illness [ 42 ].…”

“…According to the study findings from Pakistan, 18.3% of respondents were identified with stress and females are strongly associated with stress [ 36 ]; 59.7% suffered from symptoms of stress [ 12 ]. Medical health workers (doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals) reported moderate to high stress levels (66.66%) [ 24 ].…”