If you have ten minutes to spare, here is an audio recording from my remarks at last week’s annual conference of the Psychological Society of Ireland:
I was speaking on a panel on the psychological impact of COVID-19. The panel itself arose from a PSI policy statement issued in August, which I helped to prepare.
In this extract I speak about the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, and how the resulting recession can be expected to impact on the population’s mental health. Past research provides some worrying lessons about the psychological impact of economic recessions, especially a recurring statistical association between unemployment and suicide rates.
Below I have provided links to the sources I cited.
I hope you have time to have a listen, and to consider these important issues.
As part of the panel discussion, I also spent some time discussing the research on the impact of disasters and emergencies on mental health. I will post a recording of these remarks later. Stay tuned…
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Sources:
ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn 2020
Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.