The first wave of COVID-19 and concurrent social restrictions were not associated with a negative impact on mental health and psychiatric well-being.
Thorvardur Jon LoveInga WessmanGauti Kjartan GislasonSaemundur RognvaldssonSigrun ThorsteinsdottirGudrun Asta SigurdardottirAsdis Rosa ThordardottirElias EythorssonTinna Laufey AsgeirsdottirThor AspelundAndri Steinthor BjornssonSigurður Yngvi KristinssonPublished in: Journal of internal medicine (2022)
Social restrictions were sufficient to contain the pandemic but did not negatively impact validated measures of mental illness or psychiatric well-being. However, responses to individual questions showed signs of fear and stress. This may represent a normal, rather than pathological, population response to a stressful situation.