As Australia shifts into a post COVID era it is important to reflect back on the impact of the last three years and how it has effected the everyday lives of all Australians. Australia's mental heath and wellbeing was drastically impacted in the early stages of the pandemic with many Australian's confined to their houses, with little opportunities for face-to-face socialisation. April 2020 saw the lowest rates of self-reported life-satisfaction, and the highest rates of psychological distress and loneliness.
Life satisfaction has been steadily increasing since August 2021 but still below pre-pandemic levels. In January 2023 self-reported life satisfaction was 6.78 on a scale of 0-10.
Rates of psychological distress have remained consistent since August 2022. In January 2023 the average rate of psychological distress on was 11.35.
At the start of the Pandemic in April 2020, loneliness levels peaked with almost half of the population (46 per cent)saying they were lonely at least one of the time.
Rates or reported of loneliness have remained steady since April 2022 with 35 per cent of Australians reporting they were lonely at least some of the time in January 2023.
The highest rates of life satisfaction were recorded prior to the pandemic in October 2019 with an average score of 7.05 (on a scale of 0-10). In the early stages of the pandemic life satisfaction declined significantly, reaching a low of 6.52 in April 2020. Rates then fluctuated throughout the middle periods of the pandemic, reaching a high of 6.99 in November 2020. Since its lowest rates in August 2021, life satisfaction has been steadily increasing, but is still not up to pre-pandemic levels.
Psychological distress fluctuated throughout the first two years of the pandemic and have now stabilised.
Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler 6 scale, whereby Australians were asked how often in the past four weeks they had felt 'nervous’; ‘hopeless’; ‘restless or fidgety’; ‘so depressed that nothing could cheer you up’; ‘that everything was an effort’; and ‘worthless' .
The highest levels of distress were reported in April 2020, with a score of 11.91, and the lowest levels of distress were reported in April 2021, with a score of 11.06. After April 2021, distress again increased through to October 2021 with a score of 11.70. Rates then declined from January 2022 through to August 2022. Since then, rates have remained stable and are now no longer significantly higher than pre-pandemic rates seen in 2017.
Australian's level of social isolation was assessed by asking people how often they had felt lonely in the past week. Loneliness levels peaked at the start of the pandemic, with rates of 45.8 % of Australians stating they were lonely at least some of the time. Levels fluctuated through to October 2022, where 35.9% of Australians reported experiencing loneliness some of the time. Since then, levels have stabilised.