COVID-19 Social Distancing, Mental Health, and Coping Strategies in Greece

More than two years since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, managing the virus spread remains an international public health priority. COVID-19 is characterized by its rapid transmission between individuals and the capacity of even asymptomatic cases to spread the disease. Aim The COVID-19 outbreak escalated into a global pandemic, pushing many governments around the world to impose measures affecting all aspects of life. Similar to other countries, Greece adopted social restriction, lockdowns, and quarantines to reduce transmission from person-to-person. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between social restriction measures and mental health and the coping strategies employed by a Greek adult sample. Subject and methods An online questionnaire was used to collect data during the second national lockdown (February to May 2021). A total of 650 participants (mean age 33.13, 71.5% female) comprised the final sample. Results The results show 21.3% of respondents reported moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety, 33% moderate-to-extremely severe depression, 31.8% moderate-to-severe stress, and 38% clinically significant trauma-related distress. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that the strongest contributors to adverse mental health outcomes were being female, of younger age, experiencing increases in verbal arguments at home, being separated from family and close friends, and being unable to afford enough or healthy food. Lastly, participants reported moving away from social support and into more individual strength- and resilience-based coping strategies to cope with challenges. Conclusion These findings suggest that in addition to detrimental effects on physical health, social restriction measures related to COVID-19 also imposed a heavy psychological burden via forced social isolation, which increased not only physical but also psychological distancing between people.