Women more prone to Covid anxiety: Poll

dubai — Pandemics can be a stressful time for both men and women. However, a recent global survey has shown that women have been more prone to stress, depression and anxiety over the past few months amid Covid-19 pandemic.

A survey by Total Brain stated that 83 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men had experienced an increase in ‘depressed moods’. It also stated that 53 per cent of working women and 29 per cent of working men have seen a spike in anxiety since February.

“Despite the fact that men are almost twice as likely to die from Covid-19, women are more affected in terms of their mental health. Worldwide rates of anxiety, neglect, domestic violence, psychological abuse and exploitation have risen during Covid-19,” said Dr Asad Sadiq, a Dubai-based consultant psychiatrist.

Pointing to one main reason for this, Dr Sadiq said: “In the clinical setting in the UAE, we have seen high levels of anxiety among working women with children. The challenge of balancing children’s online learning with working fulltime remotely results in very little time for themselves and leads to isolation.”

Dr Reena Thomas, clinical psychologist at Medeor Hospital, Dubai, explained that since women are more articulate about their emotions, they talk about their issues, share them and seek help.

“However, since men are trained to cope with any adversity without dwelling on it, they act practically, don’t talk much about it and simply move on.”

Dr Thomas also said that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, boundaries of the two categories of women — working women and housewives — were now fused.

“Earlier, working women would usually get their space by going to work and meeting their friends.

But because of the pandemic, they lost this freedom and are confined to their home, which means they have to compromise on their ‘me time’.”

‘Global crisis’

Calling the current situation a “global mental health crisis”, Dr Padmaraju Varrey, head of specialist psychiatry at NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi, cited another study on the impact of the lockdown on men and women.

“Recently released research on the impact of the global lockdown on the mental health of adults show that it has adversely affected women much more than men.”

“It is not just the fear of the Covid-19 itself which is causing an increase in the number of cases of general anxiety, depression or panic disorders in women but the domestic pressure that has built up on mothers, owing to working from home, online school from home, taking care of their homes,” Varrey pointed out.