UK students still facing mental health issues due to Covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disastrous impact on people's mental health, and it is still continuing to affect thousands of students in the UK.

According to an analysis of the number of students calling peer-run helplines for mental health issues, there has been a significant increase in callers in 2021–22 as well.

There has been a 17% increase in students calling to discuss stress and anxiety since September, per the data available with one such helpline called Nightline.

It recorded a 51.4% increase in calls in 2020–21, and such calls have only increased. In 2021-22, the figure increased by 30%.

"Locking everyone away for a year had a wide impact on people's ability to connect interpersonally. If you look at freshers, they lost their 15- to 17-year-old years, which is when you do a lot of growth – you lose all those experiences," Matt Jones, a PhD student at Loughborough University, told The Guardian.

"I've sat down with friends and we've all said 'The pandemic screwed us.' Suddenly we don't know how to deal with [normal life]," he added.

A recent study by US researchers also claimed that year 2020 stunted social development of young adults.

The findings revealed that young adults were less satisfied with their relationships and felt less supported by their friends in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic made its presence felt all across the world.

The study found that young people described feeling more stress and anxiety in 2020 as opposed to previous years. The researchers believe that the affected people even lost out on opportunities because of this. The number of people dropping out of Britain's job market has also increased by half a million.

People have been citing long-term illness or mental health problems as the reason behind their decision to quit their jobs. Mental illness and nervous disorders rose by 22% in 2019, the year COVID first hit the world.