This new study, Mood Homeostasis Before and During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Lockdown Among Students in the Netherlands, shows how changes in mood homeostasis (natural mood regulation) using interventions could provide a fruitful avenue to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's mental health.
Vulnerable people with a history of mental illness are particularly affected and this study shows the larger the decrease in mood homeostasis during the lockdown, the larger the decrease in overall mood.Dr Maxime Taquet, Academic Foundation Doctor, University of Oxford.
Dr Maxime Taquet, lead author of the study, explains, 'This study follows on from a larger study where we looked at 58,328 participants from low, middle and high income countries, comparing people with low mood, or a history of depression with those of high mood. Both studies suggest that interventions which target mood homeostasis might help lift mood and prevent depression.'
Full study on: Mood Homeostasis Before and During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Lockdown Among Students in the Netherlands
To read the earlier study, Mood homeostasis, low mood, and history of depression in 2 large population samples.