People in the UK have experienced a "substantial decrease" in mental wellbeing since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new study.
The study, published in the Journal of Health Economics, showed a prolonged detrimental impact on mental health. And the research team fear that people's mental wellbeing could get worse with repeated outbreaks of the pandemic in the longer term.
"People's mental health worsened during the first wave of the pandemic. And the second wave was associated with an increase in the prevalence and variability of psychological distress. So the pandemic has had a prolonged detrimental influence on people's mental health.Apostolos Davillas, Researcher, University of East Anglia