Mental Health & COVID-19

During July, lockdown restrictions across the UK continued to be eased further however due to local increases in infections, localised measures were reinforced as the pandemic continues to have an unequal impact on society. As new evidence emerges we begin to better understand the effect of the recent restriction changes over the last few weeks.

Mental Health in the UK has been on the decline and has been found to be much lower compared to pre-covid levels. A survey by Mind found that 65% of adults and 75% of young people surveyed reported that their mental health had worsened from early April to mid-May. Women, people with disabilities and those living in social housing were most likely to report declines.

Anxiety levels amongst the population peaked in March as the virus stormed the UK. The ONS found that anxiety levels have since been steadily dropping however much to our surprise this trend has recently reversed. We can put this down to the initial easing of lock down in early July.

On a much more positive note, the People and Nature Survey for England found that 36% of adults are reporting spending more time outside since COVID-19 restrictions began, with 85% agreeing that ‘being in nature makes me very happy’.

Reference: Health.org