The COVID-19 Stress and Health Study (UK)

[Sly Saint]

How is COVID-19 affecting you?
Exploring the emotional and physical impact of COVID-19 on adults living in the United Kingdom.

The COVID-19 Stress and Health Study is a research study being carried out by the University of Nottingham and Kings College London exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional and physical health of adults in the UK. Taking part takes just a few minutes of your time.

there is a short video which explains about the study; I've not been able to watch it so can't comment.

https://www.covidstressstudy.co.uk/

This research is led by the University of Nottingham (Professor Kavita Vedhara, Professor Carol Coupland, Miss Ru Jia and Dr Kieran Ayling), in collaboration with Kings College London (Professor Trudie Chalder) and Myfertile UK (Dr Adam Massey). The chief investigator is Professor Kavita Vedhara.

https://www.covidstressstudy.co.uk/contact

 

[John Mac]

My god they've started already

 

[rvallee]

How is COVID-19 affecting you?
Exploring the emotional and physical impact of COVID-19 on adults living in the United Kingdom.


there is a short video which explains about the study; I've not been able to watch it so can't comment.

https://www.covidstressstudy.co.uk/



https://www.covidstressstudy.co.uk/contact

Chalder? So, not a serious study, then. Sad, this could be useful in competent hands, though that's always doubtful in the land of BPS.

MyFertile UK?

Myfertile is the world's first scientifically proven stress hormone test for fertility.



Myfertile has been carefully developed by fertility experts to assess your long-term levels of cortisol, simply by using a sample of hair.

So, definitely not a serious study. Suspiciously weird, even. Given the numerous roles played by cortisol, I don't understand this obsession with cortisol = stress. It's so obviously unreliable and will only give flawed results.

 

[Cinders66]

How delicious to be at kings MH unit and get automatic access to streams of funding.

 

[Sly Saint]

Conspiracy theories, panic buying and scapegoats: What Coronavirus tells us about human behaviour
Video from the Telegraph

What can our response to pandemics tell us about our social psychologies? Do we panic? What drives us to help one another? And what advice do experts give government based on our behaviours? We unpack the psychology and behaviours of the day, from panic buying and conspiracy theories to a rise in mental health problems.

Contributors in this film:
Professor Sir Simon Wessely - Head of Psychological Medicine at Kings College, London.
Professor Stephen Reicher - Professor of Social Psychology at the University of St Andrews
Linda Blair - Clinical Psychologist and Psychology Journalist.
Bryony Gordon - Telegraph Journalist and Mental Health Campaigner

(loved that the narrator introduced SW as "professor Sir Simon Weasley" around 1.18)

His contribution was the usual historical twaddle; also there was a lot of stuff on fight or flight, cortisol etc but Steven Reicher and Bryony Gordon both point out that a lot of it is 'normal human behaviour' in response to extraordinary circumstances.


auto-generated transcript pt1

in 1918 sailors returning from Dakar on
the west coast of Africa stopped off
their boat in the port of Recife in
Brazil they were sick and within two
weeks new cases were being reported in
Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian
centers authorities skeptical of reports
coming from Portugal and the rest of
Europe did little to make provision for
the arrival of the Spanish flu the
outbreak was fast and ferocious one
witness of the events in Rio de Janeiro
wrote that the number of sick
individuals wasn't as astounding as the
fact that every single person was sick
and there wasn't a way to help to treat
the sick to transport food to sell goods
to fill prescriptions that is to carry
out the most essential tasks of
collective life health and medical
services failed along with basic
essentials like food supply public order
broke down the streets were chaotic with
looting and panic scenes of social
breakdown whilst a common trope of
disaster films aren't as common as one
might believe in crises so what do we
know about our behavior in crises and
what hosts coronavirus revealed about
our social psychology professor Sir
Simon Weasley consults governments on
how to respond to the public when a
crisis arrives he suggests three basic
principles don't give premature
reassurance don't tell people not to
panic and get doctors and scientists on
television as soon as possible when
people advice to those who have to
communicate with the public we always
tell them whatever you do do not tell
people not to panic that's one of the
three golden rules of risk communication
because those who are panicking are
listening to you those who aren't start
to worry that they shouldn't be and
anyway most of the time most of the
people don't panic so we say never use
key word in your public communications
as we know from those who survived the
horrors of war crises generally inspire
people to work together provided they
receive clear messaging from experts and
leaders and the sense that the
government is acting with in their best
interest people are generally motivated
toward action in a crisis such as an
epidemic historically we live in an anti
collective culture where on the whole we
have been told that groups are bad
people the story we've nearly always had
is you know the individual is rational
when alone put them in a group they
become they panic they become a mindless
mob and so on and so forth and a lot of
our work has been showing well no people
don't become irrational they don't
become mindless what they tend to do is
they shift their sense of self from the
individual to the social self and they
shift the norms and values which guide
their behavior from one's own
idiosyncratic norms and values to those
of the group as social animals altruism
is a powerful motivator because
instinctively we understand that our
chances for survival improve with the
greater well-being of our communities
but on an individual level what
psychological mechanisms are at play
Dizzy's outbreaks present us with a
classical dilemma for social response
the tussle between looking after the
needs or self-interest of the individual
that I all that of the greater
collective the them and us and the
choice is driven by one of the two basic
instinctual responses fight-or-flight
versus tendon befriend at the moment so
many of us are anxious and we feel that
the anxiety is a desire to run away
escape hide or combat the problem
fight-or-flight is a primal response to
threat and has a physiological base
preparing one to take action to ensure
individual survival cortisol floods our
brains and causes us to hyper focus
making it harder to look away from a
potential threat but it's not
particularly helpful in the context of
coronavirus because it reduces our
capacity for empathy for calm
rationalization and makes us more
vulnerable to extremism and other hyper
tribal thinking one of the things that
happens in pandemics over the whole of
whom this
as be the repercussions of stigma
prejudice violence and fracture against
the group thought have caused it the
groups who somehow escaped it who have
been treated know the groups have don't
feel they being treated fairly we aren't
all together and then you have long term
Russians and sometimes in history
extremely violent alternatively
with tend and befriend we respond to
danger by tending to ourselves and our
families and befriending others so as to
build social networks of mutual
assistance it's a far more pro-social
response to threat and emphasizes our
interdependence with one another in any
disaster and especially a large-scale
disaster quite frankly the state is not
big enough to look after us there aren't
enough police officers fire officers
care workers and so on we need to look
after each other
and therefore the formation of mutual
aid communities and groups is critical
and that again is facilitated by sense
of shared identity according to the
collective psychology project there are
three particular factors that will
inform these responses the degree to
which we feel agency or the power to
shape our lives our sense of belonging
or connectedness to others and our
culture self-awareness or our ability to
choose and analyze our own responses to
things happening in our lives rather
than instinctual responses from the
amygdala or the part of the brain that
deals with threats and pumps cortisol
the problem with the amygdala is that it
doesn't make a distinction between what
we imagine and what is which is a
problem so we feel distressed if it
might be that something's going to
happen just as much as if something is
happening however if it is happening in
the breast of the brain recognizes that
then the amygdala is quiet no anxiety so
the one thing I can say to people who
are anxious to start off and I always do
is that your anxiety is about what might
be right now you're okay otherwise you
wouldn't be feeling it wouldn't waste
your
energy to fill many of the positive
actions we've witnessed during
coronavirus are built on tend and
befriend Platon for our carers Italians
play music on their balconies hundreds
of thousands of volunteers signing up to
help the NHS captain Tom Moore's 100
garden laps and the daily work of health
care professionals on the front line all
of these acts make us feel like we
belong and give us a sense of agency but
what about some of the negative
behaviours in the early stages of the
outbreak many floated social distancing
advice from spring break to Bondi Beach
to revelers in parks and bars one
possible explanation is our poor ability
to assess risk which is driven by many
factors but includes our tendency
towards optimism bias humans are
naturally optimistic thinkers most
newlyweds believe they're invulnerable
to divorce most smokers think that
they're less vulnerable to cancer a
Research poll completed in late February
of around 4,300 people in Western Europe
found half of them believe they were
less likely to get coronavirus than
others additionally people were poor at
framing the virus in terms that could be
understood early cometary frequently
featured comparisons with seasonal
influenza on the 9th of March President
Trump made a tweet comparing the annual
mortality of influenza to the number of
confirmed coronavirus deaths in the u.s.
experts including dr. Falchi soon
corrected the comparison coronavirus has
a mortality rate 10 times that of
influenza and presents a much greater
threat covered 19 is a novel pathogen
with its own unique characteristics and
outcomes our normal mechanisms for
making predictions didn't work because
nothing before in our lives has happened
like this
and that's why we make comparisons with
diseases like influenza despite
discrepancies early reports also
emphasized the greater threat to the
elderly and those with pre-existing
conditions we now know that whilst this
is true coronavirus can affect both the
young and old the healthy and the ill
in addition the practice of social
distancing is just as much about
protecting others and the broader
community as it is about protecting
oneself understanding all these factors
hampered people's ability to process the
risk panic buying was another behavior
that drew criticism stories of empty
toilet paper and pasta shelves in
supermarkets contributed to our
collective anxiety as people had been
informed there would be lockdown
measures or worse the chance of self
isolation for up to two weeks
if you were sitting at home you were
getting information telling you here's a
scarce resource is about to be locked
down blue roll is kind of useful to have
in such a situation and you're told that
other people are irrationally buying it
up now in that situation it is entirely
rational for you then to go out and say
well I need to get some before it's all
gone
so what people are doing is responding
entirely sensibly and reasonably to
information about the behavior of others
if there's anything dysfunctional here
it's not the psychology it's the
dysfunctional information the problem
arises when people feel they're
sacrificing whilst others are benefiting
it increases anxiety motivating a person
to become more selfish or overestimate
what they need that's part of the
fight-or-flight response and is also
driven by another mechanism the law of
scarcity frequently used in marketing
and advertising when we believe a
product sold out or the inventories low
humans interpret that to mean the
product must be of greater significance
or quality the reason why an increase of
10 to 20 percent in sales leads to empty
shelves nothing to do with psychology
everything to do with the just-in-time
supply systems which mean that nowadays
are like 10 or 20 years ago the stocking
is very fragile if it goes up a bit then
you begin to have empty shelves once it
was clear that supply chains were still
in place the buying Carlmont
[Music]

 

[Sly Saint]

transcript pt 2

another example of near panic was the


rapid crash of the markets humans are


highly receptive to other people's


emotional and mental states and the


trading of stocks is highly speculative


movements on the market are deeply


influenced by collective uncertainty and


once the selling commenced it was like a


charge through our collective central


nervous system our behavior is as much


determined by what we think other people


think as what we think ourselves we're


not talking about irrationality we


casually use terms like how many we're


talking about inferences about the


behavior of others and of course in the


market then the behavior of others is


precisely the phenomenon that is


critical in and of itself which makes it


even more sensitive later as the


government stepped in with measures to


reassure confidence


market panic alleviated when a global


crisis arrives our border master


narrative about the world around us


collapses our outlook and understanding


of the things happening in our lives is


turned on its head this is why public


presentations with leaders and


scientists doctors and experts are so


important they provide reassurance and


help us craft a new narrative to


navigate the change in world and the


threat around us alternatively the


vacuum in narrative can be exploited by


conspiracy theories which proliferate in


crises those first theory are nothing


new as they were far more common before


the years read everything so they're


invented by social media but that's


blaming meaning the message if you look


at the tracks and pamphlets around the


great play or even before printing you


will see that miss misunderstandings


conspiracy theories accompanied the


Black Death and it's multiple


appearances but the thing about groups


is they are the best of worlds and


they're the worst of worlds if we create


an intergroup division and we have a


sense that we are being attacked by an


other group then the group can become


truly pernicious and again in pandemics


there is a history whereby out groups


have been blamed for what's happening


and that has led to great violence and


so for instance I mean the huge numbers


of historical studies say about the rise


of anti-semitism during the plague


during that the Black Death on one day I


think it was Valentine's Day thirteen


forty nine two thousand Jewish people


were burnt in one day in Strasbourg and


that was part of a the ethnic cleansing


of a genocide that killed more than five


hundred Jewish communities in Europe


because viral outbreaks are an


existential threat


conspiracy theories can offer a source


of a blame and a place in which to


direct action usually the theories we


gravitate towards tell us a lot about


ourselves and our confirmation bias but


rather than decreasing anxiety research


shows it actually increases it along


with an even greater sense of


disillusion and powerlessness there are


some and all who are absolutely certain


that they have discovered the theory of


everything they often have high degrees


but they're usually loners they're


usually very distant from other people


they don't have a way to verify what it


is they think they know conspiracy


theories offer a physical threat to from


spikes in xenophobia and violence to


potentially harmful medical advice


during the h1n1 swine flu pandemic


conspiracy theories in the u.s.


suggested that undocumented migrants


were being exploited by terrorists to


spread the virus whilst outside of


America some theories argued that the


virus was purposefully being spread by


American authorities to benefit


pharmaceutical companies


from the perspective of our social


psychology conspiracy theories foster


distrust in experts the government


science and the science community people


turn to sources of information that


polarized few points or proliferate fake


news the greatest struggle against a


viral outbreak is undermined once


segments in society's silo fragment and


distrust the information they're


receiving which has an impact on the


drive to tend and befriend or to work


together it's not a sense of


helplessness which makes you vulnerable


but rather a sense of agency that makes


you invulnerable so far coronavirus has


offered a wealth of its own theories


from early suggestions that it was an


overblown invention by media groups to


sway political interests or that


pharmaceutical companies have introduced


the virus to manipulate the market and


make gargantuan vaccine profits or the


claim that 5g is a technology built to


transmit the virus the twin problem of


conspiracy theories is number one they


helped turn the positives of the group


into the negatives of the group they


lead from the inclusive way to a


divisive we and they and secondly they


avoid our own responsibility and our own


complicity of these problems and project


them onto that demonic other so they are


they are truly corrosive of the the


things we need to get through the


pandemic effectively as lockdowns to


battle the viral outbreak are extended


globally concerns regarding mental


health and ongoing isolation amounting


studies have been done on the


psychological outcomes of people who


were quarantined during outbreaks of


SARS h1n1 flu Ebola and other infectious


diseases many individuals experienced


both short and long term mental health


problems including stress insomnia


emotional exhaustion and substance abuse


the thing that all mental health issues


have in common via them depression or


anxiety or schizophrenia you know from


all them one extreme to another


is that they light you and they tell you


that you're a freak and they tell you


that you're alone and they take that no


one understands what you're going


through I think it is um I think it's


absolutely you know normal you know more


than ever to be feeling weird right now


a meta-analysis of 70 studies that


followed 3.4 million people over several


years found that the likelihood of dying


during the study increased by 29% for


those who were socially isolated or by


32% for those living alone the secondary


effects of the pandemic recession social


unrest unemployment / trigger even wider


mental health challenges the group I'm


feeling part of a group is probably the


most powerful health prophylactic we


have probably much more powerful but


like any pill that we've discovered to


date that sense of community that sense


of us that sense that others are there


to support and help you lead you to


believe that you can cope more that it


reduces stress and that has implications


of both mental and physical well-being


connection is so important in keeping us


well you know we know that just human


touch and hugging can bring our heart


rate down you know there's all sorts of


reasons why we do this um and I think


instinctively and I know that there's a


lot of other people who have had


experienced a mental illness who felt


this that I've spoken to that they're


getting blocked down we felt quite


prepared for it we were like this is


we've been waiting for this our whole


entire lives


you know we thrive in an isolation but


actually if the things that we really


don't want to do that are actually


really important in in keeping us


healthy and well and I'm not talking


about you know extremely I'm talking


about little things like meeting up with


someone for a coffee that you'd rather


not and all that and so when you strip


out all those little daily interactions


and even the things that you do want to


do


you quite quickly find yourself going


into that default depressive state we


need to manage our mental and emotional


states not only for our own well-being


but because our Ren estates affect


others around us and that's the point to


social psychology the state of the world


affects our state of mind and our state


of mind affects the world around us


forever I mean you know it'll and we'll


learn something from it it's shown us


all under abilities and that's not a bad


thing it's something that will bring


about huge social change and not


necessarily just for the worst


the only havea you can change you know


actually you can't change people around


you as long as you're doing your best


that's enough

 

[Simbindi]

Conspiracy theories, panic buying and scapegoats: What Coronavirus tells us about human behaviour
Video from the Telegraph



(loved that the narrator introduced SW as "professor Sir Simon Weasley" around 1.18)

His contribution was the usual historical twaddle; also there was a lot of stuff on fight or flight, cortisol etc but Steven Reicher and Bryony Gordon both point out that a lot of it is 'normal human behaviour' in response to extraordinary circumstances.


auto-generated transcript pt1

I have a lot of respect for Steve Reicher - he is one of the originators of 'participant based research' in social psychology. I met him at a BPS Social Psychology conference as an undergraduate. I would have been happy to have him as my PhD supervisor when I was looking at doing this 20 odd years ago, but for the fact he was in Edinburgh! At the time I was studying my MSc in Psychological Research Methods at Exeter University they wanted him to become their head of the Psychology department but there was no way he was going to leave St Andrews. They did manege to get his (young at the time) mate, Alex Haslam to join the department though, he was a breathe of fresh air in the lecturing staff.