MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Every third Russian citizen reported symptoms of a depressive disorder in 2020 which indicates a negative influence of the pandemic on the psychological state of people, Head of the Laboratory of Social and Economic Psychology of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Timofei Nestik said at a general meeting of professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Friday.
"[The pandemic] requires separation of people which hinders self-identification and has a prolonged nature which inevitably also affects the degree of psychological trauma to the population. Our studies included several measurements. We see that every third Russian reported symptoms of a depressive disorder and every fourth one experienced symptoms of an anxiety disorder. We are talking about symptoms, this doesn’t mean that [all these] people are sick," the scientist said, adding that US residents, on the contrary, more frequently report symptoms of anxiety rather than those of depression.
He also noted that among the emerged causes of concern for Russians the strongest one is the fear of negative consequences of the use of digital technologies. At the same time, the perception of a massive threat represented by the spread of the coronavirus infection makes people more demanding of others, he noted.
"Under the influence of this level of threats we become less tolerant of other points of view, of those breaching the accepted rules and in general much more demanding of protection which, we hope, the state should provide to us. <…> Of course, in these conditions a need for simple solutions increases. <…> We see that people get more inclined to trust all sorts of conspiracy theories. We become less critical [when analyzing information]," he added.
According to the latest global statistics, about 75 mln people have been infected worldwide and over 1.6 mln deaths have been reported. To date, 2,791,220 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,228,633 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 49,762 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.