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. 2021 Apr 24;9(1):60.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-021-00565-y.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: a comparison between Germany and the UK

Franziska Knolle  1   2 , Lisa Ronan  3 , Graham K Murray  3   4   5
Affiliations

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: a comparison between Germany and the UK

Franziska Knolle et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic social and economic changes in daily life. First studies report an impact on mental health of the general population showing increased levels of anxiety, stress and depression. In this study, we compared the impact of the pandemic on two culturally and economically similar European countries: the UK and Germany.

Methods: Participants (UK = 241, German = 541) completed an online-survey assessing COVID-19 exposure, impact on financial situation and work, substance and media consumption, mental health using the Symptom-Check-List-27 (SCL-27) and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.

Results: We found distinct differences between the two countries. UK responders reported a stronger direct impact on health, financial situation and families. UK responders had higher clinical scores on the SCL-27, and higher prevalence. Interestingly, German responders were less hopeful for an end of the pandemic and more concerned about their life-stability.

Conclusion: As 25% of both German and UK responders reported a subjective worsening of the general psychological symptoms and 20-50% of German and UK responders reached the clinical cut-off for depressive and dysthymic symptoms as well as anxieties, it specifically shows the need for tailored intervention systems to support large proportions of the general public.

Keywords: COVID-19; Depression; General population; Mental health; SPQ.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
National progression of COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries comparing Germany and the UK from Jan. 22, 2020 to Jul. 11, 2020. Recovery rate UK: after April 12., 2020 recovered cases are not reported for the UK. *Germany followed a state-wise lockdown, with the first state going in lock-down on Mar.13, 2020 and the last state on the Mar. 16, 2020. UK announced nationwide lockdown on Mar.23, 2020. Data taken from the 2019 Novel CoronaVirus CoViD-19 (2019-nCoV) Data Repository by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CSSE) (https://github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19) on Jul. 11, 2020
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Display of clinical mental health scores measured with the SCL-27 and the SPQ. a Histogram of distribution of the global severity index based on 27 items (GSI-27) for psychological symptoms, separately shown for countries. b Boxplot shows the subjective change of global symptom index during the pandemic measured with the SCL, separately for Germany and the UK. c Histogram of distribution of the total schizotypal personality score (SPQ_total), separately shown for countries. d Boxplot shows the subjective change of schizotypy symptoms during the pandemic measured with the SPQ-scale, separately for Germany and the UK
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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