A recent study revealed that the incidence of depression and anxiety increased worldwide by more than a quarter of 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, according to a report published by the British newspaper The Independent.
The study - conducted by researchers from the Queensland Center for Mental Health Research - showed that women and young people were the groups most affected by these mental disorders, and that the countries most affected by the epidemic and those that suffered from closure restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. Corona recorded the highest rate of anxiety and depression disorders.
The newspaper said that the scientists who conducted the study collected and evaluated data from studies conducted before the pandemic to help them assess the impact of the Corona epidemic on the mental health of the world’s population, and concluded that the incidence of severe depressive disorder increased by 53 million cases after the epidemic than it was before Corona, while cases of severe depression increased by 53 million cases. Anxiety disorder will be diagnosed with 76 million cases during the year 2020.
The Independent quoted the lead author of the study - Dr Damian Santomauro, a professor at the Queensland Center for Mental Health Research - as saying that the results of the study highlight "the urgent need to work to strengthen mental health systems in order to address the increasing burden resulting from major depressive and anxiety disorders." around the world.”
He added that "responding to the increase in mental health services due to the Corona pandemic will be difficult, but taking no action (to deal with that increase) should not be an option."
The newspaper said that estimates before the epidemic indicated that the world would record 193 million cases of depression and 298 million cases of anxiety by 2020, but those numbers rose by 28 percent and 26 percent, respectively, last year, according to the new study, and women had the largest share of those increases.
Women have always been more likely to be affected by the social and economic repercussions of the epidemic (German)
She pointed out that the new study was based on 49 studies, most of which were conducted in Western Europe, as follows;
Western Europe (22 studies), North America (14), Australia (5), Asia and the Pacific (5), East Asia (2), Central Europe (1).
The study found that the youth group was more affected by mental health disorders than other age groups, as cases of injury among young people increased by 1,118 additional cases of depression for every 100,000 people aged between 20 and 24 years, and 1,331 additional cases of anxiety were recorded among young people of the same age. .
The newspaper quoted Alise Ferrari, a researcher involved in the study from the Queensland Center, as saying that "the Corona pandemic has exacerbated many of the inequalities that existed before it, and the social determinants of mental health."
"Unfortunately, due to many reasons, women are always more vulnerable to the social and economic repercussions of the epidemic. Women often have additional care and domestic responsibilities, and women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, which increased at different stages of the epidemic," she added.