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People who bought firearms at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have higher rates of mental health problems and political extremism. Research published in PLOS One found those who bought firearms during the pandemic had higher rates of self harm, suicidal thoughts and intimate partner violence when compared with those who don’t own firearms or other firearms owners who bought firearms outside the height of the pandemic. [More]

Rates of prolonged grief disorder are likely to be higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers from the UK found that rates of prolonged grief disorder are already three times higher than pre pandemic. [More]

A new study published in PLOS ONE looked at the effectiveness of a brief online resilience intervention during the COVID-19 lockdown. “Our study aimed to test a new positive psychological intervention, SPARK Resilience® @Work,” study author Evgeny Osin told us. “It is a programme that aims to help employees understand, activate, and develop the psychological resources and strategies that are important to deal efficiently with stressful situations and to maintain high well-being and high performance at work.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked at the social and cognitive vulnerability to COVID-19-related stress in pregnancy. “We were interested to find out whether being pregnant during the pandemic was associated with postpartum mental wellbeing of the mothers and their babies,” study author Susanne Schweizer told us. “In particular, we were interested whether the experiencing stress related to the pandemic (including, stressors such as economic and health-related worries) would be associated with more postpartum depression and anxiety in the mothers and poorer affect in the children.” [More]

The number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency department for attempted suicide and suicide ideation rose sharply during the pandemic. Research publish in The Lancet Psychiatry found that while pediatric emergency department visits decreased overall during the pandemic, suicide related visits among youth rose by 22%. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Health Psychology looked at a longitudinal assessment of COVID-19 fear and psychological wellbeing in the United Kingdom. “Our study examined how fear of the COVID-19 virus impacted psychological wellbeing in a UK population at two different timepoints during the pandemic,” study author Martyn Quigley told us. “The first timepoint took place when the number of COVID-19 related deaths and hospitalizations were high and the number of those who were vaccinated were low. The second timepoint took place when the number of deaths and hospitalizations were considerably lower, and most of the population were vaccinated.” [More]

A new study published in Education Researcher looked at teachers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our study investigated teachers’ mental health throughout the pandemic, comparing outcomes between teachers and other professionals,” study author Joseph M. Kush told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at the impact of COVID-19 on psychopathology in children and young people worldwide. “Our study is about tracking what the changes were in children and adolescents’ mental health from before the pandemic to during the pandemic, by bringing together findings from lots of research published in the last two years,” study author Abigail Emma Russell told us. [More]

A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics looked at the association of youth suicides and county-level mental health professional shortage areas in the United States. “We found that two-thirds of U.S. counties have significant shortages of mental health professionals,” study author Jennifer A. Hoffman told us. “Youth who live in counties with shortages of mental health professionals are more likely to die by suicide.” [More]

Having a partner was more beneficial at avoiding loneliness during the first wave of COVID-19 than having children. Research published in the European Journal of Ageing found that whilst those without children and those without a partner were more likely to be lonely, those without a partner underwent a notable shift in their loneliness in the early stages of the pandemic. [More]