Prof. Dong-hoon Lee Announces the Results of His Study, “The  Public Fear and Psychology Regarding Coronavirus Infection & The Effects of Social Experience on Depression and Anxiety”

One out of three adults has suffered from the so-called "corona-blue," which causes depression due to prolonged coronavirus infections (COVID-19).

Sungkyunkwan University said on September 6 that Dong-hoon Lee, a professor of education, recently announced the study results titled, "the public fear and psychology regarding coronavirus infection and the effects of social experience on depression and anxiety.” 

Prof. Lee conducted an online survey of 600 male and female adults aged 18 or older from April 13 to 21, when Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province were designated as special disaster zones and social distancing rules were strongly implemented. According to the survey, 29.7% of respondents said they experienced depression during the COVID-19 and 48.8% of them said they felt anxiety. 

Among the reasons for experiencing fear, 96.0% said they were afraid of transmitting it to their families if they were infected with COVID-19. Other major factors included “because of the substance of COVID-19 is not clearly identified” (91.8%), “because there is no treatment for COVID-19” (89.7%), “because I cannot control the infection” (89.0%), and “because I cannot predict life afterwards” (79.3%).

As people experience fear and anxiety due to COVID-19, the demand for psychological health services also increased. 77.2% of respondents said they needed information on psychological and mental health, 72.8% said they needed psychological counselling, and 58.2% said they needed psychiatric treatment.

Professor Dong-hoon Lee said “As the period of COVID-19 is prolonged, it is highly likely that the chance of people experiencing depression and anxiety is higher at this point than in April when the survey was conducted” and emphasized, “We need psychological prevention as well as technical prevention that disinfects the germs.”

※Original Article: https://www.hankyung.com/life/article/2020090849027