A recent study has found that, over the course of the past year, people living in Germany have struggled with their mental health, particularly during the second lockdown.

Studying the impact of the coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on all aspects of German society, with businesses forced to close their doors and people being confined to their homes. It has also had a significant impact on people’s mental health, as researchers at Saarland University discovered.

Over the course of the past year, 1.500 people took part in a study, which aimed to measure the psychological and social consequences of coronavirus in Germany. The study covered a period that saw two lockdowns, the first being from mid-March to mid-April 2020. The second lockdown, which is currently ongoing, began halfway through December last year.

Lockdown blues

The study found that, over the past year, people in Germany began to feel less satisfied with life in general, particularly over the second lockdown. “Life satisfaction has decreased significantly – worries, stress and depressiveness have increased,” said research group leader Dorota Reis, explaining that people’s view of society has “changed drastically.”

During the first lockdown, those taking part in the study said they thought society had grown closer, as the country hunkered down to ride out the pandemic together. However, protests against the lockdown and the general disdain for social-distancing regulations have evidentially changed opinions, as respondents now said that people's behaviour was “rather selfish and drifting apart.”

Further study

Researchers at the university now want to examine the different effects the pandemic has had on different groups of people, particularly how people's moods and personalities develop going forward. Once restrictions were relaxed after the first lockdown, the population's outlook improved dramatically. "Whether that will be the case this time, we don't know yet," Reis said.