Low Perceived Social Rank Increases the Impact of Mental Health Symptoms on Suicidal Ideation: Evidence among Young Adults from the Philippines

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to dramatic changes worldwide in people’s everyday lives. To combat the pandemic, many governments have implemented social distancing, quarantine, and stay-at-home orders. There is limited research on the impact of such extreme measures on mental health. Objective The goal of this study was to examine whether stay-at-home orders produced differential changes in mental health symptoms using internet search queries on a national scale. Methods In the United States, individual states vary in their adoption of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19; as of March 23, 2020, 11 of the 50 states had issued stay-at-home orders. The staggered rollout of stay-at-home measures across the United States allows us to investigate whether these measures impact mental health by exploring variations in mental health search queries across the states. This paper examines the changes in mental health search queries on Google between March 16-23, 2020, across each state and Washington, DC. Specifically, this paper examines differential changes in mental health searches based on patterns of search activity following issuance of stay-at-home orders in these states compared to all other states. The participants were all the people who searched mental health terms in Google between March 16-23. Between March 16-23, 11 states underwent stay-at-home orders to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Outcomes included search terms measuring anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, negative thoughts, irritability, fatigue, anhedonia, concentration, insomnia, and suicidal ideation. Results Analyzing over 10 million search queries using generalized additive mixed models, the results suggested that the implementation of stay-at-home orders are associated with a significant flattening of the curve for searches for suicidal ideation, anxiety, negative thoughts, and sleep disturbances, with the most prominent flattening associated with suicidal ideation and anxiety. Conclusions These results suggest that, despite decreased social contact, mental health search queries increased rapidly prior to the issuance of stay-at-home orders, and these changes dissipated following the announcement and enactment of these orders. Although more research is needed to examine sustained effects, these results suggest mental health symptoms were associated with an immediate leveling off following the issuance of stay-at-home orders.

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Flattening the Mental Health Curve: COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders Are Associated With Alterations in Mental Health Search Behavior in the United States (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.19347 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nicholas C Jacobson ◽

Damien Lekkas ◽

George Price ◽

Michael V Heinz ◽

Minkeun Song ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

The United States ◽

Mental Health Symptoms ◽

Health Symptoms ◽

Search Queries ◽

Negative Thoughts ◽

The Impact ◽

At Home

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to dramatic changes worldwide in people’s everyday lives. To combat the pandemic, many governments have implemented social distancing, quarantine, and stay-at-home orders. There is limited research on the impact of such extreme measures on mental health. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to examine whether stay-at-home orders produced differential changes in mental health symptoms using internet search queries on a national scale. METHODS In the United States, individual states vary in their adoption of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19; as of March 23, 2020, 11 of the 50 states had issued stay-at-home orders. The staggered rollout of stay-at-home measures across the United States allows us to investigate whether these measures impact mental health by exploring variations in mental health search queries across the states. This paper examines the changes in mental health search queries on Google between March 16-23, 2020, across each state and Washington, DC. Specifically, this paper examines differential changes in mental health searches based on patterns of search activity following issuance of stay-at-home orders in these states compared to all other states. The participants were all the people who searched mental health terms in Google between March 16-23. Between March 16-23, 11 states underwent stay-at-home orders to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Outcomes included search terms measuring anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, negative thoughts, irritability, fatigue, anhedonia, concentration, insomnia, and suicidal ideation. RESULTS Analyzing over 10 million search queries using generalized additive mixed models, the results suggested that the implementation of stay-at-home orders are associated with a significant flattening of the curve for searches for suicidal ideation, anxiety, negative thoughts, and sleep disturbances, with the most prominent flattening associated with suicidal ideation and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that, despite decreased social contact, mental health search queries increased rapidly prior to the issuance of stay-at-home orders, and these changes dissipated following the announcement and enactment of these orders. Although more research is needed to examine sustained effects, these results suggest mental health symptoms were associated with an immediate leveling off following the issuance of stay-at-home orders.

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Flattening the Mental Health Curve: COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders are Associated with Alterations in Mental Health Search Behavior in the United States

10.31234/osf.io/24v5b ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nicholas C. Jacobson ◽

Damien Lekkas ◽

George Price ◽

Michael V. Heinz ◽

Minkeun Song ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

The United States ◽

Mental Health Symptoms ◽

Health Symptoms ◽

Search Queries ◽

Negative Thoughts ◽

The Impact ◽

At Home

Background: COVID-19 has led to dramatic changes globally in persons’ everyday lives. To combat the pandemic, many governments have implemented social distancing, quarantine, and stay-at-home orders. There is limited research on the impact of such extreme measures on mental health. Objective: The goal of the present study was to examine whether stay-at-home orders produced differential changes in mental health symptoms using internet search queries at a national scale. Methods: In the United States, individual states vary in their adoption of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19; as of March 23, 2020, eleven of the fifty states had issued stay-at-home orders. The staggered rollout of stay-at-home measures across the U.S. allows us to investigate whether these measures impact mental health by exploring variations in mental health search queries across the states. The current manuscript examines the changes in mental health search queries on Google between March 16-23, 2020 across each state and Washington D.C. Specifically, the current manuscript examines differential change in mental health searches based on patterns of search activity following issuance of stay-at-home orders in these states compared to all other states. Participants included all persons who searched mental health terms in Google between March 16-23. Between March 16-23, eleven states underwent stay-at-home orders to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Outcomes included search terms measuring anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, negative thoughts, irritability, fatigue, anhedonia, concentration, insomnia, and suicidal ideation. Results: Analyzing over 10 million search queries using generalized additive mixed models, the results suggested that the implementation of stay-at-home orders are associated with a significant flattening of the curve for searches for suicidal ideation, anxiety, negative thoughts, and sleep disturbances with the most prominent flattening associated with suicidal ideation and anxiety. Conclusions: These results suggest that, despite decreased social contact, mental health search queries increased rapidly prior to the issuance of stay-at-home orders, and these changes dissipated following the announcement and enactment of these orders. Although more research is needed to examine sustained effects, these results suggest mental health symptoms were associated with an immediately leveling off following the issuance of stay-at-home orders.

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The impact of victimization and mental health symptoms on recidivism for early system-involved juvenile offenders.

Law and Human Behavior ◽

10.1037/lhb0000311 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (6) ◽

pp. 558-569 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Lindsey E. Wylie ◽

Katrina A. Rufino

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Juvenile Offenders ◽

Mental Health Symptoms ◽

Health Symptoms ◽

The Impact

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The current pandemic, a complex emergency? Mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on highly vulnerable communities in Guatemala

International Journal of Social Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/00207640211027212 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002076402110272

Author(s):

Dana Alonzo ◽

Marciana Popescu ◽

Pinar Zubaroglu-Ioannides

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Psychological Impact ◽

Health Resources ◽

Health Impact ◽

Continuous Variables ◽

Mental Health Symptoms ◽

Health Symptoms ◽

Number Of Children ◽

Complex Emergency ◽

The Impact

Background: On March 5th, Guatemala declared a ‘State of Calamity’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and strict lockdown measures were initiated. The psychological consequences of these measures are yet to be fully understood. There is limited research on the psychological impact of the virus in the general population, and even less focused on Latin America and high-risk communities characterized by poverty, limited mental health resources, and high rates of stigma around mental illness. The goal of this study is to examine the psychological impact of COVID-19 across several highly vulnerable districts in Guatemala. Methods: A semi-structured phone interview was conducted of 295 individuals in multiple districts in Guatemala City to assess self-perceived mental health consequences related to the pandemic. Sociodemographic, medical, and mental health data were collected. Chisquares and t-tests used for categorical and continuous variables, as appropriate, to describe the sample. Binary logistic regressions were estimated to examine associations between sociodemographic characteristics and mental health symptoms (anxiety, stress, depression, burnout, escalation of pre-existing mental health symptoms, and a sense of safety). Results: The results indicate high levels of anxiety and stress in all target communities. Significant differences based on gender, age, and the number of children in the household were identified: women and older adults experience higher rates of stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic; while families with greater number of children experience higher levels of burnout. Conclusion: Contextualizing the current pandemic as a complex emergency can help inform further studies focusing on socioeconomic challenges and higher vulnerabilities as preconditions affecting the impact of the pandemic on mental health. Given the limited available resources for mental health care in Guatemala, informal networks of care may play an important role in meeting the needs of those individuals experiencing increased psychological distress resulting from the pandemic.

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