Product of time and while the pandemic is in progress with more or less intensity depending on the period, experts are constantly discovering new aspects of the impact it has on the daily life and psychology of citizens. Research shows that the costs to citizens’ mental health are high. Stress, anxiety disorders, depression, panic attacks are just some of the effects of the pandemic on psychology. People who had not experienced such situations before were called upon to do so, while people with severe mental health saw their condition worsen. The World Health Organization (WHO) called on governments several months ago to strengthen mental health structures and improve public access to such assistance.
According to the research “Covid-19 in Greece: Psychological Imprint” of the University of West Attica presented by APE-MPE, the data show that almost all people in Greece felt a significant change in their daily lives.
In particular, five out of ten people in Greece felt a “too much” big change and four out of ten people felt a “big” change in their daily lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects such as quarantine and restrictions on their social and professional obligations. .
The survey was conducted throughout Greece between 12-27 December 2020, electronically, anonymously without personal data of the respondents. The accepted questionnaires were 5,778.
As it turns out, women who felt a very big change were 20% proportionally more than men. At the same time, almost nine out of ten (87.2%) citizens felt a very to very big change in their daily life from the pandemic. The emotions that developed were different from person to person, mainly due to the fear of getting sick from the coronavirus, the loneliness because many avoided visiting their relatives lest they be infected and others were protected from being infected. Uncertainty about the upcoming events, anxiety, irritability, anger and sadness until the depressive episodes due to the pandemic and the behavior of some other people burdened the daily life of most Greeks.
“Looking at the effects of the pandemic, we see that the Greeks were realistic about the situation as four out of ten thought that some restrictions would be lifted by July 2021, which took place, and five out of ten believed that the restrictions would be lifted by December. 2021 or in the worst case of 2022, a fact that is also confirmed “, Michalis Glampedakis, Michalis Glampedakis, Emeritus Professor of the former TEI of Athens, now the University of West Attica, who supervised the research, emphasizes speaking to APE-MPE. Mr. Glambedakis adds that: “Restrictions due to the pandemic such as telework, school closures, etc. gave more (24%) people the opportunity to improve their contact with relatives and friends and in fewer (15%) made it worse. The improvement is more pronounced in young people up to 18 years old who due to the interruption of living lessons stayed at home. Young people whose relationships with their close environment improved were more than twice as many as those who deteriorated (27.3% vs. 12.9%). The citizens who treated the coronavirus with contempt and considered that there was no cause for concern, that is, the “negatives”, were very few (5.8%) compared to those who took the risk very seriously and obeyed the urgings of experts and the decisions of the state. (32.4%). Of course, the majority of Greeks (61.8%) considered that the pandemic was manageable and without excessive fear lived their lives obeying the advice of scientists and relevant state officials.
Contacts with the close environment
The pandemic also significantly affected people’s relationships with their close relatives, social, friendly and professional environment. According to research by the University of West Attica, some people took advantage of the opportunities created by teleworking, distance learning, lockdowns and other bans and spent more time with their loved ones, but others suffered and are under strong psychological pressure. In other words, it gave others the opportunity to increase contact and others to decrease it.
Specifically, in one in four people (23.8%) his contacts with his close environment improved as they spent more time together due to teleworking, work suspension or other reasons and, in one in seven (14.9%) they had difficulty because they avoided physical communication for reasons of protection and precaution of themselves or their relatives and acquaintances. Of course, many (61.3%) found other methods of communication that technology has and believe that they still had the same contact.
Fear of virus
Characteristic of how human contact is affected is the appearance of feelings of fear lest an acquaintance, relative, or associate transmit the virus to them; According to the research, the fear of the virus is not a simple fear, it records many threats in our subconscious, so it must be treated immediately and appropriately.
According to the answers of the respondents, one in three people (32.4%) feels great fear of being stuck by a careless and indifferent fellow citizen. More than one in three women (35.9%) is very afraid of getting stuck, while in men one in four (26.8%) is afraid. At the age of 65, the fear is more intense.
Feelings of loneliness
The very nature of the pandemic imposed the isolation of people in order not to get stuck, depriving them of something that is necessary for human existence: contact with others. According to the research, people do not even exchange glances on the streets anymore, while most of them step aside to pass others who walk in the opposite direction and if they can not do it, they hold their breath before meeting until a few steps later. Suspicion of the “other” dominates modern life and leads to isolation and loneliness.
One in two (49.8%) people in Greece felt “Too much” and “Very” very lonely and 36.8% felt small and manageable loneliness. Gender did not differentiate between people’s feelings of loneliness. Age, however, plays a very important role in the development of feelings of loneliness. Those over 65 who felt “too much” loneliness were two and a half times, proportionally, more than young people 26-35 (33.3% vs. 13.9%);
Domestic violence
Almost seven out of ten (67.1%) of people in Greece believe that domestic violence has increased “Very” to “Too much” and only one in ten (8.6%) believe that it has not increased at all. More women (74.3%) than men (55.3%) state that domestic violence increased in the family in our country during the pandemic period, ie 34.3% proportionally more than men.
“The research showed another serious situation in Greek society; that of recognizing and identifying domestic violence. Phenomena of indecent and asymmetrical behavior by members of a family, by others are characterized as violent and by others as ordinary and insignificant. The consolation is that the younger generation, people aged 18-35, more easily characterize some incidents as violent while older people do not evaluate them with the same degree of violence. This is confirmed by the fact that more than 70% of young people aged 18-35 believe that domestic violence has increased significantly due to the pandemic, a rate that drops to 60% in citizens over 55 years old. This finding creates an optimistic sense of breath of a new perception of people’s relationships, stating that incidents of violence will probably decrease in the near and near future “, notes Mr. Glambedakis.
Utilization of time during quarantines
Research shows that many people try in various ways to mitigate the effects of forced removal from family, social and professional relationships due to long stays in hospital, prison, and, most recently, at home due to quarantine and energy measures, and passive prophylaxis and protection.
49.0% of the citizens used their free time due to quarantines and restrictions with spiritual activities, studying, watching documentaries, writing and other intellectual work. 39.2% engaged in physical exercise and sports. 31.3% were engaged in professional work, and 37.9% were engaged in various other activities.
“The ” lost ” time due to the pandemic was not completely wasted. In addition to improving personal relationships with their close relatives, many people were involved in one in three, mainly reading books, writing poems and other literary works, or watching movies and documentaries; one in four was more involved in sports. and physical activity and one in five worked from home. “Work from home” and “education at home” created new working conditions and education in the Greek social and economic life, something that in other countries has existed for years and had, with proper and appropriate utilization, facilitates the daily life of employees who “They were not obliged to travel during peak hours, people with disabilities who greatly reduced their arduous travels but also students who for various reasons found it difficult to attend live classes”, concludes Mr. Glambedakis.
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