Mental Health Consequences of Adversity in Australia: National Bushfires Associated With Increased Depressive Symptoms, While COVID-19 Pandemic Associated With Increased Symptoms of Anxiety

Frontiers in Psychology

Elizabeth Seabrook¹  David Bakker²  Nikki Rickard³  Hussain-Abdulah Arjmand⁴ 

[1] Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia;Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Research Unit, Institute for Social Neuroscience, Heidelberg, BW, Australia;School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Centre for Positive Psychology, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;

关键词: COVID-19;    depression;    anxiety;    public mental health;    well-being;    disasters;    experience sampling methodology;    smartphone;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635158

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

High quality monitoring of mental health and well-being over an extended period is essential to understand how communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and how to best tailor interventions. Multiple community threats may also have cumulative impact on mental health, so examination across several contexts is important. The objective of this study is to report on changes in mental health and well-being in response to the Australian bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic. This study utilized an Experience-Sampling-Method (ESM), using the smartphone-based mood monitoring application, MoodPrism. Participants were prompted once a day to complete a brief survey inquiring about symptoms of depression and anxiety, and several well-being indices, including arousal, emotional valence, self-esteem, motivation, social connectedness, meaning and purpose, and control. Participants were N = 755 Australians (aged 13 years and above) who downloaded and used MoodPrism, between 2018 and 2020. Results showed that anxiety symptoms significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not during the bushfires. This may be explained by concurrent feelings of social connectedness maintained during the bushfires but not during the pandemic. In contrast, depressive symptoms increased significantly during the bushfires, which maintained during the pandemic. Most indices of well-being decreased significantly during the bushfires, and further again during the pandemic. Study findings highlight the unique responses to the bushfire and COVID-19 crises, revealing specific areas of resilience and vulnerability. Such information can help inform the development of public health interventions or individual clinical treatment, to improve treatment approaches and preparedness for potential future community disasters.

【 授权许可】

CC BY