Covid-19 lockdowns: People with mood disorders hit hard by disruptions, study finds

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About 40 per cent of people with mood disorders suffered depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, a new University of Otago, Christchurch, study has found.

The international study, which involves hundreds of New Zealanders, found strong links between the pandemic and worsening mental health for those most at risk.

It has sparked a call for more public health awareness of the effects of Covid-19 on mood and for the issue to be taken more seriously after the study identified a concerning link between disruptions as a result of the pandemic and declining mental health.

Professor Richard Porter, a researcher from the New Zealand arm of the study, said nearly 40 per cent of the study participants – who had previously been diagnosed with a mood disorder – self-reported moderate to severe depression during New Zealand’s first lockdown in 2020.

“Although we expected to see disruption from changes in circadian rhythm negatively affecting mood in these participants, we were surprised how severe their self-reported symptoms were,” said Porter, who is head of the Department of Psychological Medicine.

Professor Richard Porter. Photo / Supplied

“Our results show there is a definitive link between Covid-related disruption to circadian rhythms and worsening mental health in those with existing mood disorders, namely depression and bipolar disorder.”

The questionnaire study, published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, was conducted from April to June 2020, which incorporated NZ’s first level four lockdown.

Participants reported the worst causes of pandemic disruption were the inability to go to work, forced isolation at home, not being able to socialise as normal and struggling to maintain their usual eating and sleeping patterns.

These factors negatively affected mental health determinants such as their general mood, outlook on life, positivity and irritability levels.

Researchers from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Holland, Scotland and the US – conducted the study.

The reports are based on responses from 997 participants, 521 of them from New Zealand. Half of the total participants had bipolar disorder and the other half were diagnosed with depression.

About one in five, or 21 per cent, reported moderate-to-severe depression and 18 per cent severe depression because of Covid-19 disruption.

Just 12 per cent reported minimal depressive feelings, 20 per cent mild depression and 27 per cent moderate depression.

“The fact that nearly 40 per cent of these already vulnerable people reported their symptoms as moderate to severe raises concern,” Porter said.

“These results show it’s important we recognise the vulnerability of those with mood disorders when faced with disruptive situations such as Covid-19, earthquakes or other major upheavals in their lives and consider doing more to help them maintain their mood and mental health.”

Porter said more emphasis was needed from a public health standpoint to help these people especially when experts are predicting Covid-19 could be with us for the next five years including prospects of future lockdowns.

He said it should be a priority for health professionals to provide practical responses, such as giving those most at risk the tips, tools and strategies while delivering their care.

Porter’s research team was involved in several clinical trials examining practical methods to improve and treat mood disorders.

These included psychotherapy to help regulate social and circadian rhythms, and light therapy was also being trialled, as well as the use of blue-blocking glasses before sleep to help suppress melatonin secretion.

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