World Economic Forum: "Lockdown is the world's biggest #psychological #experiment - & we will pay the price"

Apr 9 2020 "With some 2.6 billion people around the world in some kind of #lockdown, we are conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment ever"

#Conditioning

"Unfortunately, we already have a good idea of its results. In late Feb 2020, right before EU countries mandated various forms of lockdowns, The Lancet published a review of 24 studies documenting the #psychological impact of quarantine."

#Handy

"The findings offer a glimpse of what is brewing in hundreds of millions of households around the world...

people who are #quarantined are very likely to develop a wide range of symptoms of #psychological #stress and #disorder..."

#Conditioning

"... including low mood, #insomnia, #stress, #anxiety, #anger, #irritability, emotional #exhaustion, #depression & post-traumatic stress symptoms. Low mood & irritability specifically stand out as being very common, the study notes." #PTSD

#RulingClass #LockdownExperiment

"In cases where parents were #quarantined with #children, the #mentalhealth toll became even steeper. In one study, no less than 28% of quarantined parents warranted a diagnosis of “ #trauma-related mental health disorder”.

"Among #quarantined #hospital #staff, almost 10% reported “high depressive symptoms” up to 3 yrs after being quarantined. Another study reporting on the long-term effects of SARS #quarantine among healthcare workers found a long-term risk for #alcohol #abuse, self-medication..."

"We know this from many examples, ranging from absenteeism in #military units after deployment in risk areas, companies that were close to Ground Zero in 9/11 and medical professionals in regions with outbreaks of #Ebola, #SARS and #MERS."

"RIGHT BEFORE the #lockdown, we conducted a benchmark survey among a rep. sample of the Belgian population... we saw that 32% of the pop. could be classified as highly resilient (“green”). Only 15% of the population indicated #toxic levels of #stress (“red”)."

#HumanExperiment

"... after 2 weeks of #lockdown, the green portion has shrunk to 25% of the population. The “red” part of the pop. has increased by 10 percentage points to fully 25% of the pop. These are the people at high risk for long-term absenteeism from work due to #illness & #burnout."

"In general, we know at-risk groups for long-term mental health issues will be the #healthcare workers who are on the frontline, young people under 30 & #children, the #elderly and those in precarious situations, for example, owing to #mentalillness, #disability & #poverty."

Feb 26, 2020: "The #psychological impact of #quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence".

"Appeals to #altruism by reminding the public about the benefits of quarantine to wider society can be favourable." https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30460-8/fulltext

"A study comparing post-traumatic stress symptoms in #parents & #children #quarantined with those not quarantined found that the mean post-traumatic stress scores were 4 X higher in children who had been quarantined than in those who were not quarantined." #PTSD

Who suffered most - and why?

#India population: approx. 1.3 billion. The lockdown was imposed on citizens when there were 10 deaths. The #fallout & #suffering is not anything that can be fathomed by the average person in the North.

India: deaths from/with Covid approx. 700.