@article{ref1,
title="Acceleration of anxiety, depression, and suicide: secondary effects of economic disruption related to COVID-19",
journal="Frontiers in psychiatry",
year="2020",
author="Brenner, M. Harvey and Bhugra, Dinesh",
volume="11",
number="",
pages="e592467-e592467",
abstract="The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has contributed to increasing levels of anxiety, depression and other symptoms of stress around the globe. Reasons for this increase  are understandable in the context of individual level factors such as  self-isolation, lockdown, grief, survivor guilt, and other factors but also broader  social and economic factors such as unemployment, insecure employment and resulting  poverty, especially as the impacts of 2008 recession are still being felt in many  countries further accompanied by social isolation. For those who are actively  employed a fear of job and income loss and those who have actually become ill and  recovered or those who have lost family and friends to illness, it is not surprising  that they are stressed and feeling the psychological impact. Furthermore, multiple  uncertainties contribute to this sense of anxiety. These fears and losses are major  immediate stresses and undoubtedly can have long-term implications on mental health. Economic uncertainty combined with a sense of feeling trapped and resulting lack of  control can contribute to helplessness and hopelessness where people may see suicide  as a way out. Taking a macro view, we present a statistical model of the impact of  unemployment, and national income declines, on suicide, separately for males and  females over the life cycle in developed countries. This impact may reflect a potent  combination of social changes and economic factors resulting in anomie. The  governments and policymakers have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure the  physical health and well-being of their populations. While setting in place  preventive measures to avoid infections and then subsequent mortality, the focus on  economic and social recovery is crucial. A global pandemic requires a global  response with a clear inter-linked strategy for health as well as economic  solutions. The models we have constructed represent predictions of suicide rates  among the 38 highly industrialized OECD countries over a period of 18 years  (2000-2017). Unemployment has a major effect on increasing suicide, especially in  middle-aged groups. However, the impact of economic decline through losses of  national income (GDP per capita) are substantially greater than those of  unemployment and influence suicide throughout the life course, especially at the  oldest ages.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1664-0640",
doi="10.3389/fpsyt.2020.592467",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.592467"
}