IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/106146.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The social underpinnings of mental distress in the time of COVID-19 - time for urgent action

Author

Listed:
  • Rose, Nikolas
  • Manning, Nick
  • Bentall, Richard
  • Bhui, Kamaldeep
  • Burgess, Rochelle
  • Carr, Sarah
  • Cornish, Flora
  • Devakumar, Delan
  • Dowd, Jennifer B.
  • Ecks, Stefan
  • Faulkner, Alison
  • Keene, Alex Ruck
  • Kirkbride, James
  • Knapp, Martin
  • Lovell, Anne M.
  • Martin, Paul
  • Moncrieff, Joanna
  • Parr, Hester
  • Pickersgill, Martyn
  • Richardson, Genevra
  • Sheard, Sally

Abstract

We argue that predictions of a 'tsunami' of mental health problems as a consequence of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the lockdown are overstated; feelings of anxiety and sadness are entirely normal reactions to difficult circumstances, not symptoms of poor mental health. Some people will need specialised mental health support, especially those already leading tough lives; we need immediate reversal of years of underfunding of community mental health services. However, the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on the most disadvantaged, especially BAME people placed at risk by their social and economic conditions, were entirely predictable. Mental health is best ensured by urgently rebuilding the social and economic supports stripped away over the last decade. Governments must pump funds into local authorities to rebuild community services, peer support, mutual aid and local community and voluntary sector organisations. Health care organisations must tackle racism and discrimination to ensure genuine equal access to universal health care. Government must replace highly conditional benefit systems by something like a universal basic income. All economic and social policies must be subjected to a legally binding mental health audit. This may sound unfeasibly expensive, but the social and economic costs, not to mention the costs in personal and community suffering, though often invisible, are far greater.

Suggested Citation

  • Rose, Nikolas & Manning, Nick & Bentall, Richard & Bhui, Kamaldeep & Burgess, Rochelle & Carr, Sarah & Cornish, Flora & Devakumar, Delan & Dowd, Jennifer B. & Ecks, Stefan & Faulkner, Alison & Keene, , 2020. "The social underpinnings of mental distress in the time of COVID-19 - time for urgent action," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106146, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:106146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/106146/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hopper, Kim, 2007. "Rethinking social recovery in schizophrenia: What a capabilities approach might offer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 868-879, September.
    2. Emily A. Holmes & Michelle G. Craske & Ann M. Graybiel, 2014. "Psychological treatments: A call for mental-health science," Nature, Nature, vol. 511(7509), pages 287-289, July.
    3. James Banks & Xiaowei Xu, 2020. "The Mental Health Effects of the First Two Months of Lockdown during the COVID‐19 Pandemic in the UK," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 685-708, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Wilson, Jessica & Demou, Evangelia & Kromydas, Theocharis, 2024. "COVID-19 lockdowns and working women's mental health: Does motherhood and size of workplace matter? A comparative analysis using understanding society," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    3. Sonia OREFICCE & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "Gender inequality in COVID-19 times: evidence from UK prolific participants," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 261-287, June.
    4. Jacques Wels, & Booth, Charlotte & Wielgoszewska, Bożena & Green, Michael J. & Di Gessa, Giorgio & Huggins, Charlotte F. & Griffith, Gareth J. & Kwong, Alex S.F. & Bowyer, Ruth C.E. & Maddock, Jane & , 2022. "Mental and social wellbeing and the UK coronavirus job retention scheme: Evidence from nine longitudinal studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    5. Paul Anand & Laurence S. J. Roope & Anthony J. Culyer & Ron Smith, 2020. "Disability and multidimensional quality of life: A capability approach to health status assessment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(7), pages 748-765, July.
    6. Bryan, Mark & Bryce, Andrew & Rice, Nigel & Roberts, Jennifer & Sechel, Cristina, 2022. "Exploring mental health disability gaps in the labour market: the UK experience during COVID-19," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Xiaoying Gao & Apostolos Davillas & Andrew M. Jones, 2022. "The Covid‐19 pandemic and its impact on socioeconomic inequality in psychological distress in the United Kingdom: An update," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 912-920, May.
    8. Gina Voss & Andreia F. Paiva & Alice Delerue Matos, 2021. "A Study of the Association between the Stringency of Covid-19 Government Measures and Depression in Older Adults across Europe and Israel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-12, July.
    9. Julia Darby & Stuart McIntyre & Graeme Roy, 2022. "What can analysis of 47 million job advertisements tell us about how opportunities for homeworking are evolving in the United Kingdom?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 281-302, July.
    10. Lea Ellwardt & Patrick Präg, 2021. "Heterogeneous Mental Health Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom," Working Papers 2021-07, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    11. Quintana-Domeque Climent & Proto Eugenio, 2022. "On the Persistence of Mental Health Deterioration during the COVID-19 Pandemic by Sex and Ethnicity in the UK: Evidence from Understanding Society," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(2), pages 361-372, April.
    12. Trinh Q. Long, 2021. "Individual Subjective Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-18, July.
    13. Chan, Ho Fai & Cheng, Zhiming & Mendolia, Silvia & Paloyo, Alfredo R. & Tani, Massimiliano & Proulx, Damon & Savage, David & Torgler, Benno, 2022. "Societal Movement Restrictions and Adverse Mental Health Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 15111, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Jan Delhey & Stephanie Hess & Klaus Boehnke & Franziska Deutsch & Jan Eichhorn & Ulrich Kühnen & Christian Welzel, 2023. "Life Satisfaction During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Human, Economic, Social, and Psychological Capital," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2201-2222, October.
    15. Burdett, A. & Davillas, A. & Etheridge, B., 2021. "Weather, psychological wellbeing and mobility during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 21/03, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Maria Victoria Uribe Bohorquez & Isabel María García Sánchez, 2023. "Sustainability in times of crisis: Female employment during COVID‐19," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 3124-3139, November.
    17. Metzl, Jonathan M. & Hansen, Helena, 2014. "Structural competency: Theorizing a new medical engagement with stigma and inequality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 126-133.
    18. Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2022. "New Evidence on Disability Benefit Claims in Britain: The Role of Health and the Local Labour Market," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 131-160, January.
    19. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "The female happiness paradox," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-27, March.
    20. JungHo Park & Sujin Kim, 2023. "Child Tax Credit, Spending Patterns, and Mental Health: Mediation Analyses of Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    BAME; benefit system reform; mental distress; social disadvantage; universal basic income; Covid-19; coronavirus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:106146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.