Mental health and the COVID pandemic
Psychiatric
Mental health issues were already of concern for organisations before the COVID-19 pandemic. Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014 conducted in a large and representative British sample has positioned the overall prevalence of mental health problems in adults over 16 years of age at 18.9%, an increase from 17.6% in 2007 [Mental health pressures have intensified since the beginning of 2020. Declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 led many countries to pronounce a state of emergency, issue restricted movement orders and, in most cases, impose lockdowns. Workwise, although some work patterns have intensified (especially in the healthcare sector: [Data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study based on nearly 9,000 British adults indicate that psychological distress increased among all employees from 20.1% at the 2017–2018 baseline to 31.8% in April 2020 with prevalence increasing similarly across all demographic groups over time. Furthermore, distress increased from 23.7% at baseline to 69.4% in April 2020 for those who were permanently laid off [