After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese population showed an increase in anxiety and depression and a decrease in happiness and life satisfaction. This finding comes from a report that analyzed user messages from China’s social media platform, Weibo. The report was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Evidence from the aftermath of the SARS epidemic in 2003 suggests that the uncertain and evolving nature of a coronavirus outbreak can lead to emotional and cognitive consequences, triggering stress and anxiety in the public. Researchers highlight the dangers of this type of response noting, “Long-term negative emotions may reduce the immune function of people and destroy the balance of their normal physiological mechanisms”.

In order to gain insight into the mental health consequences of COVID-19 in a non-invasive way, researchers investigated user messages shared on China’s popular online platform, Weibo. From a sample of 17,865 active Weibo users, researchers analyzed posts that were published from January 13, 2020 to January 26, 2020.

Researchers used a method called Online Ecological Recognition (OER) to analyze the collected Weibo messages. The messages were divided into words and phrases and researchers used a predictive model to calculate scores of psychological indicators including anxiety, depression, indignation, happiness, social risk judgment, and life satisfaction. Since COVID-19 was officially declared a B type infectious disease on January 20, researchers compared the differences in scores before and after this date.

The results showed a decrease in happiness and an increase in anxiety, depression, and indignation in Weibo users after the declaration of COVID-19. Researchers explain that this is consistent with previous research that found that public health emergencies can provoke a stress response that leads to heightened anxiety and other unfavorable emotions.

An analysis of the types of words used found an increase in messages related to death and religion after the declaration of COVID-19. Researchers suggest that news reports revealing the harshness and possible deadliness of coronavirus may have led people to turn to religion for comfort. Messages also contained more words in the categories of health and family and fewer words related to leisure or friends. The authors suggest a shift in concern from recreational activities to staying home with family.

Researchers share several implications for policy makers, suggesting they develop a consistent procedure for reporting the latest updates such as confirmed cases and death toll. They stress, “It is important to let people understand the data properly to reduce excessive stress response”.

For clinical practitioners, they emphasize the need for consultants to properly understand the epidemic data so that they can share this information during counseling. They also stress the importance of delivering therapy in alternative ways during isolation, suggesting online and hotline consulting.

The study, “The Impact of COVID-19 Epidemic Declaration on Psychological Consequences: A Study on Active Weibo Users”, was authored by Sijia Li, Yilin Wang, Jia Xue, Nan Zhao, and Tingshao Zhu.

(Photo credit: Tim Dennell)