Depression, Anxiety and Fear due to COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Study based on Learning Perspective

Abstract

Psychological pressures leading towards instability of psychological states like anxiety, stress, fear and depression. The main objectives of present study were to explore the existence of anxiety, depression and fear among public. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 15^th April to 4^th May, 2020. Three research instruments including Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used. 530 valid questionnaires were received in response to online survey. The results showed that 518 (97.7%) of individuals have fear. The results indicated that those 403 (76.0%) respondents were non-anxious and 127 (46.0%) people were anxious. Depression and non-depression rate was 55.5% and 45.5% respectively. It was revealed that anxiety, depression and fear have significant positive correlation. It was also found that females faced more anxiety, fear and depression than males. Results indicated that following precaution against coronavirus reduces anxiety, depression and fear. Students were found to have higher mean scores on FCS, SAS and SDS as compare to working and unemployed individuals. Compared to students of intermediate, graduation and post-graduation, Undergraduates had higher mean scores which show more fear, anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is requirement due to outbreak of COVID-19 to facilitate psychological state of general public.

Keywords: COVID-19, Anxiety, Depression, Fear, Correlation