The psychological impact of Covid lockdowns is becoming increasingly evident, according to a study published by the University of Aberdeen. Researchers found that individuals who had experienced lockdowns had higher rates of error when recalling major events, including those from one year ago. The issue is attributed to social isolation caused by lockdowns and the resulting mental health strain of loneliness, with poor judgements over time causing significant omissions. While the study found some participants showed greater resilience dealing with lockdowns, it warns that the wider implications of such measures are yet to be fully understood.
Additional Piece:
Negative Effect of Covid-19 Lockdown on Mental Health
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we live our lives, with lockdowns introduced around the world to control the virus. While these measures have been successful in limiting its spread, they have also caused significant economic and societal disruption, coupled with considerable mental health challenges.
Some mental health effects of the virus have included anxiety disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Mental health specialists worldwide have had to continually adapt therapies or medication used to treat these conditions to address Covid-19’s impact.
Chronic anxiety or feelings of depression may lead to an emotional distortion that involves higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, making it difficult to recall past events. Therefore, it would not be incorrect to say that the pandemic has caused us to lose things we never realized we had or took for granted, leading to a loss in time perception and memories. As a result, people may misremember when significant life events took place, particularly those who were affected by stress, anxiety, depression, and isolation due to lockdowns.
The pandemic has also caused social disruption, with people encouraged to avoid social contact, work from home, and schooling disrupted. As a result, millions of people worldwide have annulled important life events as weddings, birthdays, career goals, and education opportunities postponed or cancelled, adding to a sense of isolation and disillusionment for those affected.
Even though technology has allowed for continuous communication, humans crave physical interaction. Prolonged social isolation, reduced physical activity levels, and limited access to nature and natural sunlight can all negatively impact our mental health. Lockdowns have led to widespread loneliness among many people, accentuating symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
One meta-analysis of 10 studies discovered that the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health worldwide, with participants between 18 to 24 years of age, frontline workers, people in poor health, and those living with pre-existing medical conditions, proving the most susceptible. A separate study reported that Covid-19 hospitalizations are associated with the development of various psychiatric conditions, including dementia, anxiety disorders, depression, and psychotic disorders.
It is essential to understand how the human mind and body react, or even overreact, in cases of intense fear or threats to our physical or emotional well-being. Psychologically, lockdowns have emphasized the feeling of a lack of control, making it challenging to live our lives without consistent anxiety.
The ongoing pandemic has shown us how an illness can damage our overall physical health, but it has also exposed how it can hurt our mental and emotional well-being and our sense of time perception and memory. Policymakers, researchers, and mental health practitioners around the world must collaborate to reduce the mental health consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Promoting better mental health awareness to manage stress levels, supporting social networks, providing access to virtual mental health services, and improving testing and treatment opportunities are ways to ensure people’s mental well-being during and after the pandemic.
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen conducted a study and found that social isolation caused by lockdowns has led to poor time perception and significant omissions when it comes to recalling past events among some individuals. The research confirms the toll Covid-19 has had on the mental health of some people, leading to higher rates of anxiety disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The pandemic has caused significant social disruptions, leading many people to experience loneliness due to postponement or cancellation of essential life events and isolation caused by lockdown measures. Policymakers, researchers, and mental health practitioners need to increase awareness of the importance of mental well-being, provide access to virtual mental health services, and improve testing and treatment opportunities.
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The psychological toll of Covid lockdowns could lead some people to misremember the timing of recent events, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of Aberdeen.
The omissions were similar to the distorted perception of time observed in some prisoners, according to the study, conducted in 2022 and published Wednesday in the open-access journal Plus One.
While it’s not uncommon for people to confuse the timing of events that happened in the distant past, the researchers found that people who had lived during the pandemic era had similar error rates for events that happened just a year ago took place. It was particularly pronounced among those who felt stressed, depressed and anxious as part of the interventions.
“Feeling lonely leads to emotional distortions such as higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression,” which negatively affected time judgment, the researchers said in the study.
Countries around the world experienced lockdowns lasting weeks and even months as authorities scramble to contain Covid, with people in cities as far away as London, Beijing and Melbourne being forced to stay at home or in nearby areas for extended periods . There have long been concerns about the impact of such strict isolation measures on mental health, and the Aberdeen study is one of the first to shed scientific light on the implications.
Around 270 participants over the age of 21 who had lived in the UK for the past four years were asked to mark the timing of major news events such as Brexit, Meghan Markle’s entry into the British royal family and the start of the Covid vaccination programme.
Their ability to pinpoint the timing of events in 2021 was worse than for events that happened in the previous two years – and at a similar level for events that happened back in 2017.
The researchers attributed the findings to the social isolation created by the lockdown, when people were largely barred from birthdays, weddings and other gatherings that normally help to ingrain perceptions of time.
Still, not everyone has memory clouded by the mental distress caused by the lockdown: the researchers also found that people who showed greater resilience in dealing with such measures were able to recall the timing of recent major events more accurately.
https://fortune.com/well/2023/05/31/covid-lockdowns-memory/
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