More Germans have complained of depressive symptoms since the beginning of the pandemic

Depressive symptoms, anxiety and uncontrollable worries have increased in Germany over the course of the corona pandemic and with the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Key characteristics of mental health in the adult population have deteriorated since the end of 2020 after an initial resilience at the beginning of the pandemic, according to new results of a study by the Robert Koch Institute published on Tuesday.

While depressive symptoms burdened around nine percent of the population in the first months of the pandemic between March and September 2020, this proportion rose to 13 percent in the same period in 2021. After the start of the Russian war against Ukraine, the figure rose to 17 percent in March-June of this year.

"With Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, another acute stressor has emerged at the population level," said the RKI. In addition, other "complex effects" such as the climate crisis, seasonal fluctuations and long-term trends may have contributed to this.

While from March to September 2021 seven percent of the population reported a noticeable burden of anxiety symptoms, from March to June of this year it was already eleven percent. At the same time, the proportion of those who rated their general mental health as "very good" or "excellent" fell to 40 from 44 percent.

A further observation is necessary, also in order to be able to assess a possible reversibility of these trends. According to the RKI, the development affects all genders, education and age groups. Women, younger adults and those over 65 are particularly affected. In the group with a low level of education, depressive symptoms are most common, with higher levels of education they increase earlier and more steadily.

The results have not yet been evaluated by independent experts. They come from data from telephone interviews with around 1000 adults per month between 2019 and 2021, this year with around 3000 adults per month.