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HEAD FIRST Work and COVID stress are leading to a parallel pandemic in mental health. Professor Gerard Bodeker says now is the time to design mental wellness programmes for a wide spectrum of society...
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he pandemic has forced us all to think seriously about our existence and that of those close to us. Life has become more fragile and this has had the effect of re-scaling priorities, resulting in changes in the whole of society which will be felt for years to come. The World Health Organization has pointed out that along with COVID-19, we’re living through a parallel pandemic in mental health. Researchers looking at the neurological and long-term effects of COVID-19 found depression was more than three times higher during the pandemic than before. And in a study of 250,000 people diagnosed with the virus, approximately one-third received a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis in the subsequent six months. Parallel to this, researchers have identified what they are calling The Great Resignation where, according to a Harris Poll in late 2021, more than 110 spa business HANDBOOK 2021 – 2022
Rates of depression are now three times higher than pre-COVID
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