Mental well-being in the post-COVID era

Mental well-being in the post-COVID era

The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of people has been significant. The onset of common mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders and depression were previously anticipated by the research community (Hyland et al., 2020; Kanter & Manbeck, 2020; Shevlin et al., 2020). Self-isolation, social distancing measures have been linked, in the past, to the onset of depression and anxiety (Santini et al., 2020), paranoia and hallucinations (Michalska da Rocha, Rhodes, Vasilopoulou, & Hutton, 2017). Factors such as loss of employment, financial difficulties can prompt poor mental health (Hyland et al., 2020). Although isolation as such cannot trigger the onset of depression but the perception of contracting the virus and perceiving the symptomology of COVID-19 infection can be a major trigger (Jaspal et al., 2020). Individuals with a history of mental illness or have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder are more vulnerable to develop further illnesses (Freeman et al., 2011). Lifestyle risk factors such as nutrition, exercise, preventative health behaviours as well as carer-dependent activities (Hayes et al., 2017) may all be disturbed during global pandemics such as COVID-19. This not only increases their risk of contracting the disease but also reduces their life expectancy substantially (Onwumere, 2021). The impact of socio-economic factors such as loss of employment, financial difficulties, personal tragedies during the pandemic can further exacerbate the vulnerabilities of people to mental illness.

In order to look beyond the pandemic and better prepare for the future, it is important to monitor and recognise the psychological and social vulnerabilities of people. One approach to do this is to look at the perceptions of people on the pandemic and the coping strategies they adopted during the entire course of the pandemic.

Perceptions and coping strategies:

People’s perceptions of the impact of the pandemic in their lives is multi-dimensional and can have both positive and negative results. Perceptions can be influenced by a variety of factors such as demographics, social support systems, financial and employment circumstances, carer responsibilities, history of mental illness, technology use and personality traits (Homes et al., 2020; Kiraly et al., 2020; Pareek et al., 2020; Brooks et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020, Wang et al., 2020). Studying all these factors can help understand the most vulnerable populations that are risk during the pandemic. A large study (379,875 participants) was conducted in the UK to understand the different variables linked to the mental well-being of people during COVID-19. It was found that age was the most prominent characteristic variable that showed impact from the pandemic (Hampshire et al., 2021). Older people demonstrated profound increase in anxiety during the course of the pandemic. Younger people, on the other hand, were already found to have high levels of depression and anxiety prior to the pandemic. Age along with other factors such as employment, social systems, home environment can have a direct impact on the mental well-being of people across the age spectrum (Hampshire et al., 2021)

People’s perceptions and responses to stress depend on their ability to cope with stress. A UK study that investigated the different coping strategies adopted by people during the first 21 weeks of the pandemic (Fluharty et al., 2021), in the UK shed some insights into the strategies people adopted during the course of the pandemic. Numerous coping methods have been adopted by people during the course of the pandemic some of which included as self-destruction, denial, substance abuse, active coping, behavioural changes etc (Fluharty et al., 2021).

Participants who adopted socially supportive systems, problem focused, avoidance of stressors methods to handle stress appeared to have high mental health symptoms at the beginning of the pandemic. But symptoms gradually decreased over time, particularly women who chose socially supporting strategies for coping (Fluharty et al., 2021). Avoiding the stress or being in denial provides relief in the short-term but can be detrimental in the long term (Skinner et al., 2003). This is because avoidance or denial fails to identify the core stressor and therefore does not address it. Identifying the source of the psychological stressors will help determine the type of social or medical resources the individual may require to handle the stress (Fluharty et al., 2021). Participants who adopted problem-focused coping strategies (which means those who actively seek solutions to the problem) or who approach the situation with emotions (acceptance and positive mindset), which is referred to as emotion-focused coping, were found to have higher levels of depression or anxiety symptoms at the beginning of the pandemic (Fluharty et al., 2021). But there is also e