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Research Paper Anthropology E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 10 | Issue : 7 | July 2024
MENTAL HEALTH, ANXIETY AND COVID-19: A
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Prof. Jayita Roy Tapadar
Assistant Professor in Anthropology, Government General Degree College, Keshiary, West Bengal
INTRODUCTION
Since December 2019 the world has been facing an outbreak
of a novel infectious disease known as Coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), that has rapidly spread globally and has now
been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation
(WHO,2020). Its spread and lethality is proving to be higher
than previous epidemics on account of international travel
density and immune naivety of the population (Docia et.al
2020), triggering urgent, draconian public health measures in
many countries. This has caused an unprecedented situation for
citizens, policy makers, politicians and healthcare professionals,
with the pandemic being described as the worst public health
crisis in a generation.
The COVID-19 pandemic also had a major effect on our
lives. Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful,
overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and
children. Public health actions, such as social distancing, are
necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they can
make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and
anxiety. With the effects of COVID-19 on our physical health
increasingly documented, we can no longer collectively fail to
notice its effects on our mental health (UNDP). Currently, all
of us are experiencing emotions, thoughts and situations we
have never experienced before. In India, the rst and foremost
responses to the pandemic have been fear and a sense of clear
and imminent danger (NIMHANS).
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human
life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge
to public health, food systems and the world of work. The
economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is
devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into
extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people,
currently estimated at nearly 690 million, could increase by up
to 132 million by the end of the year.(WHO,October 2020).
This pandemic situation not only affectsphysical health,
mental health as well as economic sector but also ruined
future education system. According to the United Nations
Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),
over 800 million learners from around the world have been
affected, 1 in 5 learners cannot attend school, 1 in 4 cannot
attend higher education classes, and over 102 countries have
ordered nationwide school closures. Instead of regular teaching
–learning process COVID conned the children and youth in
different gadgets in terms of DIGITAL LEARNING. Such
prolonged connement also create enormous mental hazards
among the children as well as youths.
Social isolation, conned digital life, media, uncertainty,
mental stress etc continuously breakdown man’s mental
strength and disturbed our mental health. Anxiety, one of the
main evaluated subjects, has been signicantly increasing
in society during this pandemic (Huang and Zhao, 2020;
Teufel et al., 2020). In addition, according to World Health
Organisation (WHO), 1 in 3 globally suffers from anxiety. In
the rst year of COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of
anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%. Harmful
behavioural consequences can derive from the condition of
anxiety, including excessive hand washing, social withdrawal,
panic purchasing and overspending in resources such as hand
sanitizers, medications and protective masks (Asmundson and
Taylor, 2020b). Interestingly, groups with less education seem
to be more susceptible to these manifestations in an epidemic
context, especially due to unreliable access to information
and apprehension to its academic formation (Pfefferbaum and
North, 2020). Fortunately, anxiety disorders are treatable, and
the vast majority of people with an anxiety disorder can be
helped with professional care (ADAA).
In the context of the discussion delineated above, it is clear that
the COVID-19 pandemic thus presents a unique opportunity
to study people’s perception toward mental health.Therefore,
using an online based study, we aimed to assess the general
perceptions towards anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic,
explore the associated behavioural change due to anxiety and
their perceptions towards anxiety management.
METHODOLOGY
The present survey was conducted on 130 participants from
Manipur and West Bengal. Only adult married male and females
were designated as respondents for this study. Data were obtained
independently by four authors (Dr.MoirangthemKabita Devi,
Dr.ShougaijamBrajeshwari Devi and Moirangthem Johnson
Singh from Manipur and Jayita Roy Tapadar from West Bengal),
using the GOOGLE FORM questionnaire form 19/03/2022 to
20/03/2022. Questionnaire were sent to the respondents via
Whatsapp groups and individual mobile number randomly. All
subjects reported their demographic data, COVID-19 related
information, and completed questionnaires which assessed their
generalized perception towards anxiety, behavioural changes
etc.Demographic variables included gender (male or female),
age, educational qualication, family type.
Prior to undertaking the survey, participants were informed
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International Education & Research Journal [IERJ] 06
of the purpose of the study and provided informed consent.
Participant could withdraw from the survey at any moment
without providing any justication.
All the questions were based only on the self-perceptions of the
respondents. The study does not involve any clinical/ medical
diagnosis. Analysis has been done using simple statistics
like percentage, mean, standard deviation (only for age) etc.
Both the qualitative and quantitative data were collected and
analysed.
FINDINGS:
Socio-Economic Prole of the Respondents:
Category Manipur West Bengal
Male 40.26 ± 1.22* 41.03 ± 0.91*
Female 38.52 ± 0.98* 39.66 ± 1.01*
(* = p> 0.05)
Table 1: Age wise distribution of the respondent of two
States
Category Manipur West Bengal
Family members no. ≤ 4 74% 77%
Family members no. ≥5 26% 23%
Table 2: Family size wise distribution of the respondent
(“two States)
Category Manipur West Bengal
Annual Family Income ≤ 10 Lakh 83% 78.12%
Annual Family Income > 10 Lakh 17% 20.88%
Table 3: Economic level wise distribution of the
respondent (“two States)
Table no 1, 2 and 3 represents age wise, family size wise and
annual family income wise (%) distribution of respondents of
both the states. Table 1, represents that there is no age wise
signicance difference.
Table 2, represents that most of the families of both Manipur
and West Bengal (33 and 45 respectively) having member
numbers ≤ 4.
Table 3, represents that most of the studied families of Manipur
(83%) and West Bengal (78.12%) have ≤10 Lakhs annual
family income.
ANXIETY AND ITS ASSOCIATED ALBEHAVIOUROF
THE RESPONDENTS:
Table 4 reveals that majority of the respondents from Manipur
(59.69%) and West Bengal (60.08%) found difcult to control
anxiety, 18.46% and 20.67% found difcult to control sadness,
6.92% and 3.44%of the respondents found difcult to control
anger, 6.15% and 5.99% of the respondents found difcult to
handle excitement and remaining 5.39% and 3.44% reported
that they had difculty in controlling other emotions for
Manipur and West Bengal respectively.
Emotions Percentage of respondents
Manipur
Percentage of respondents
West Bengal
Happiness 3.39% 2.51
Excitement 6.15% 5.99
Sadness 18.46% 20.67
Anxiety 59.69% 60.08
Anger 6.92% 7.31
Any other 5.39% 3.44
Total 100 100
Table 4 which emotion do you feel is most difcult to
control during COVID pandemic?
Emotions Percentage of respondents
Manipur
Percentage of respondents
West Bengal
Happiness 1.39% 0.99
Excitement 7.20% 3.43
Sadness 21.00% 22.43
Anxiety 65.00% 68.24
Anger 3.02% 3.29
Any other 2.39% 1.62
Total 100 100
Table 5. Which one of the following emotions persists over
for the longest time due to Covid pandemic?
Behavioral/Lifestyle Changes During COVID-19 Pandamic
The study examines the anxiety related behavioural and
lifestyle changes during covid-19 pandemic as presented in
Table 6 below.
Behavioral and Lifestyle Changes Yes No
Panic buying of essential food items 73.85% (96) 26.15% (34)
Storing Covid-19 related medicines 55.38% (72) 44.62% (58)
Taking precautionary medicines like
zinc, vitamin capsules, homeopathic
medicine without consulting any
physician
43.08% (56) 56.92% (74)
Sudden change in food habit 61.54% (80) 38.46% (50)
Overthink about your children and
elderly people at home
86.92% (113) 13.08% (17)
6. Excessive washing and sanitizing
hands
91.54% (119) 8.46% (11)
Table 6, Do you agree that there has been changes in the
following behavioral and lifestyle ways due to COVID-19
pandemic for both the states?
Notwithstanding the lower percentage of respondents
witnessing behavioral change of taking precautionary medicines
like zinc, vitamin capsules, homeopathic medicine without
consulting any physician (43.00%), majority of the respondents
witness change towards various Behavioral and Lifestyle
Changes likePanic buying of essential food items(73.85%),
Storing Covid-19 related medicines(55.38%), Sudden change
in food habit(61.54%), Overthink about children and elderly
people at home (86.92%), Excessive washing and sanitizing
hands(91.54%). (As there were no any remarkable differences
in anxiety level or the emotional level we accumulated all the
resonance in one table.)
International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]
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Research Paper E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 10 | Issue : 7 | July 2024
International Education & Research Journal [IERJ] 08
Factors Contributing to Anxiety
Form of media Percentage of
respondents
Number of
respondents
Television 32.32% 42
Radio 3.07% 04
Print media 8.46% 11
Social networking sites 46.15% 60
Social circle /
neighbours
10.00% 13
Table 7: Choose one form of media that affects you most
during COVID 19 pandemic?
Post covid nervousness Yes No
83(63.84%) 47(36.15%)
Table 8. Did you feel more nervous when there is minor
health problem in this post COVID situation?
Table 8 indicate majority of the respondents (63.84%) feel
nervous over minor health problem in this post COVID
situation.
Strategies to Manage Anxiety:
[This is based on WHO: Tips and advice for mental health]
Strategies Yes No
Meditation 25(19.23%) 105(80.77%)
Physical Exercise 54(41.53) 76(58.46)
Recreation 29(22.30%) 101(77.69%)
Pursuing hobbies 51(39.23%) 79(60.77)
Consult with physician/
professional
11(8.46) 119(91.54)
Table 9: did you follow the following tips to strengthen
your mental health?
[Indication: More oriented towards self-management rather
than expert consultation/clinical diagnosis]
DISCUSSION
The above study was done on 130 adult married population of
Manipur (mean age of males 40.26 ± 1.22; females 38.52 ±
0.98 and West Bengal (males 41.03 ± 0.91; females 39.66 ±
1.01) respectively. The age revealed no signicance differences
(p>0.05) for both the sexes. Almost all the males and females
of the present study were economically independent, and they
were at least graduate or had more educational qualications.
The study revealed that there is a signicant relationship
with family size, income level and with the anxiety level
respectively. The anxiety level is much higher in case of small
family member (family member no. 3-5) specially who have
children and dependent elders. Most of them answered through
the Google form that they were anxious/ disturbed/ depressed/
feared etc. regarding the future of their dependent family
members. Both male and female participants have answered in
the same way. They describe their cause of mental disturbance/
anxiety in terms of economic loss, children’s education, fear
of termination of service due to National lockdown as well as
fear of death of them due to COVID 19 etc. but most of the
respondents from joint family or extended family type were
less worried than those of nuclear family type.
Present study also shown us a relationship with the annual family
income and anxiety level. The anxiety in terms of economic
instability was higher in case of relatively lower economic
group (≤ 5-10 lakhs annually) than those of others for both the
sex and for both the States. Many of them have reported that
they had invested or insured their money for future medical as
well as economic purposes in absence of them for the fear of
COVID PANDEMIC
The tables of result section revealed that how COVID
pandemic engulf the mental peace of the studied population.
Almost 57.69% of population has answered that it was difcult
for them to control COVID related anxiety. Most of them also
reported that different kinds of media specially Social media
(46.15%) and Television (32.32%) had a great impact on their
mental anxiety.
The study also expressed that from this mental anxiety most of
the respondent change their day to day behaviour in terms of
over storage of food items due to prolonged National Lockdown,
Research Paper E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 10 | Issue : 7 | July 2024
unnecessarily storing of essential medicines (COVID related),
taking different medicines like Zinc Capsules, Vitamin
Capsules, immunity boosters, Hot immunity boosting tea, hot
waterwithout consulting any physician. They all do those by
knowing from different media or who had already recovered
from COVID. These all kinds of activities creates many health
hazards afterwards. But due to the fear and anxiety they do all
these things. Although WHO havetips and advice for mental
health, but table no 9 reveals that very low percentage of
respondents manage their anxiety according to that proforma.
The respondents also reported that they sometimes engaged
themselves in different recreational activities like watching
movies, spending time with children, playing and doing
physical exercises (41.53%), Pranayama/meditation (19.23%),
spending time with their hobbies(51%), reading books, cooking
different restaurant style foods etc.
CONCLUSION
The present study was an attempt to nd out the mental stress and
anxiety in relation with COVID 19 Pandemic in a less affected
area (MANIPUR) and relatively High affected area (WEST
BENGAL) of both adult and economically independent males
and females with no signicant age differences. Although the
affected and mortality rate was very high in West Bengal than
that of Manipur, but almost all the respondents responses alike
regarding the fear and anxiety of COVID and its consequences.
Almost 50.4% of total population think to run away to a safer
place with their family members. Although maximum of the
participants (92.2%) always follow COVID protocols, but due
to the fear and anxiety regarding COVID 19 all were in mental
trauma. Almost all of them wants to ght against COVID in
their NEW NORMAL LIFE armed with Vaccination, proper
hygiene habits, maintaining COVID Protocol, eating healthy
food, doing regular physical exercises and spending time with
constructive habits rather than wasting time in news of COVID
from different media etc.
Although this was a very small scale study, but we had got
very interesting and inferential responses regarding COVID 19
Pandemic fear and anxiety among the population. In future we
shall engaged ourselves to perform this study on a large scale
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