Elsevier

Journal of Psychiatric Research

Volume 153, September 2022, Pages 254-259
Journal of Psychiatric Research

Psychological wellbeing in the English population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A series of cross-sectional surveys

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.040Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Psychological distress has been higher than normal throughout the pandemic.

  • Distress was higher even after the end of legal restrictions.

  • Wellbeing has also been lower than usual.

  • Women had greater distress and lower wellbeing than men.

Abstract

Psychological distress has been elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies published to date have investigated distress after the first wave of infections (Spring – Summer 2020). We investigated distress and wellbeing between April 2020 and April 2022 in England through a series of cross-sectional online surveys. People aged 16 years or over living in the UK were eligible for the surveys; for this study we selected only those living in England due to differences in restrictions between UK nations. Distress was measured using the PHQ4 (n = 60,921 responses), while wellbeing was measured using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (n = 61,152 responses). Throughout, approximately 50%–60% of women and 40%–50% of men reported distress, higher than the 25%–30% of women, and 20%–25% of men reported in normative data. Wellbeing was also worse than population norms, with women reporting lower wellbeing than men. Rates of distress in the English population have been consistently high throughout the pandemic. Patterns of distress have broadly mirrored the pattern of restrictions and case numbers, but there are notable exceptions which indicate that other factors may play a part in population mental health.

Keywords

Mental health
Distress
Anxiety
Depression
COVID-19
Gender

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