Unlock: Boon or bane for mental health?

ABSTRACT

Unlocking after lockdown in the current COVID-19 pandemic has apparently resulted in a new normal way of living, but its impact on mental health is still unexplored. The present study tried to explore the mental health status of the general population in India during the current unlocking phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, it aimed at examining the mental health burden in different age groups and finally to find out the association between psychological distress and education loss, financial loss, exposure and acquaintance of COVID 19. The study was conducted from Unlock phase 3.0 to Unlock phase 8.0 on 200 participants. A Google form was created and circulated on different online and social media platforms. The measures used were the Impact of Event Scale (IES), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The data was analyzed with the help of SPSS v21. Results clearly show that the mental health burden of the majority of the population fell into the normal category and a few into the mild category. As far as stress, anxiety, depression, and IES in the unlock phase are concerned, they still exist but in lower figures as compared to lockdown phases. Without a doubt, the burden on mental health has been greatly reduced, but it still exists among the general population. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc..