Psychological Impact of the Corona Virus Lockdown on the General Population: A Cross Sectional Online Survey

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 infection lockdown on the general population. Methods: From 28th April to 4th May 2020, an online survey was conducted using snowballing sampling and invitation through online social media to participate. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were collected. Psychological impact was assessed with the help of self designed questionnaire adapted from DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 CCSM-Adult scale. Results: In total, there were 568 responses from different cities / villages of the country. Out of these eight responses were excluded from the study because of lack of consent and final sample size analyzed was 560 (358 male, 202 female). Half of the participants were under 35 years of age, 63.9% were male, 49% have done post graduation and 59.1% were living in nuclear family. Analysis of response revealed presence of a high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms ranging from 5.5 % to 49.3% in the participants. Anxiety symptoms (49.3%), manic symptoms (37.3%) depressive symptoms (36.1%), anger issues (28.6%), somatic symptoms (26.3%) and sleep problems (24.5%) were the most common domains of psychiatric symptomatology reported by participants. Conclusion: Our study provides early evidence of a significant psychological impact of COVID-19 infection and lockdown on common people living in the community indicating a need for quick, comprehensive and longitudinal assessment of mental health needs of the population for early diagnosis and prevention of psychiatric disorders.

Somatic symptoms associated with mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

“…Out of thirty-six studies, two 4,5 were case reports, thirty were questionnaires or surveys, twenty-nine of which were conducted online, three were retrospective observational studies, [36][37][38] and one was a prospective cohort study. 39 Regarding the population studied, 15 studies 4,[6][7][8][15][16][17]21,25,[29][30][31]33,34,38 referred to healthcare workers, thirteen 5,[10][11][12][13][14]18,19,[22][23][24]32,35 referred to the general population, five 20,26,27,37,39 referred to COVID-19 patients, two 9,28 compared medical professionals to nonmedical professionals, one 20 studied COVID-19 patients some of which were also healthcare workers and one study 36 compared attenders with SSD in emergency departments before and during the pandemic. The overall population studied was 145,884 individuals (without the ability to exclude double reporting in surveys).…”

Spiritual Well-Being and Psychological Distress among Muslims During COVID-19: An Empirical Analysis

“…From the results, it shows that the diseases outbreak increasingly affects the mental health of the person, increased stress among individual, and also affect the daily life of the person. Even though the quarantine and lockdown are good to restrict the virus transmission, prolonged lockdown appears to have affected the mental health of people in a very significant manner across all age groups (Gaur et al, 2021).…”

The relationship between spiritual well-being and psychological distress among Muslims throughout COVID-19

“…From the results, it shows that the diseases outbreak increasingly affects the affect the daily life of the person as well as their mental health including stress state. Even though the quarantine and lockdown are good to restrict the virus transmission, but the mental health of people across all age group appears to have affected in a very significant manner due to extended lockdown [41].…”