COVID-19 lockdowns are not the leading cause of extreme loneliness and psychological distress

COVID-19 lockdowns are not the leading cause of extreme loneliness and psychological distress

For many people, being stuck at home during the lockdowns took its toll, but researchers at UC Irvine say people who consumed several hours of COVID-19-related media every day were the most likely to experience loneliness and traumatic stress. “As you may remember, it was all bad news all the time” – the study’s lead author is Roxane Cohen Silver, UCI  Distinguished Professor of psychological science: “The more hours that people were immersed in media about the pandemic, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of acute traumatic stress.”