Reflective of a unique time?
Commenting on the findings, Catherine Harmer, PhD, director of the Psychopharmacology and Emotional Research Lab, department of psychiatry, University of Oxford (England), said in the release this was an “interesting study” that “provides some important insights as to which behaviors may protect our mental health during times of significant stress.”
Dr. Catherine Harmer
She said the finding that social contact was not beneficial was “surprising” but may reflect the fact that, during the pandemic, it was “stressful even to have those social contacts, even if we managed to meet a friend outside.”
The results of the study may therefore be “reflective of the unique experience” of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr. Harmer, who was not involved with the research.
“I wouldn’t think that reading too much news would generally be something that has a negative impact on depression and anxiety, but I think it was very much at the time,” she said.
With the pandemic overwhelming one country after another, “the more you read about it, the more frightening it was,” she added, noting that it is “easy to forget how frightened we were at the beginning.”
Dr. Harmer noted that “it would be interesting” if the study was repeated and the same factors came out – or if they were unique to that time.
This would be “useful to know, as these times may come again. And the more information we have to cope with a pandemic, the better,” she concluded.
The research was supported by the AXA Research Fund via an AXA Award granted to Dr. Radua from the call for projects “mitigating risk in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The investigators and Dr. Harmer report no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.