Lockdown is the world's biggest psychological experiment - and we will pay the price

Apr 9, 2020

Residents write words "stay home" with their mobile phones as they stand on the balcony of their apartment block during the lockdown imposed by the Belgian government to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread, in Ruisbroek near Brussels, Belgium April 5, 2020. Picture taken with a long exposure. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir - RC2KYF9OLGND

What will the psychological impact be for 2.6 billion people under lockdown? Image: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Dr Elke Van Hoof

Professor, health psychology and primary care psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Share:

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

COVID-19

Have you read?

Estimated size of lockdowns around the world

Estimated size of lockdowns around the world Image: Statista

How stress under lockdown is affecting Belgians

How stress under lockdown is affecting Belgians

The phases of disaster response

The phases of disaster response Image: When disaster strikes, Beverly Raphael, 1986

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:

COVID-19 Mental Health Global Health SDG 03: Good Health and Well-Being

Share:

Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on COVID-19
See all

Here’s what to know about the new COVID-19 Pirola variant

Lora du Moulin and Charlotte Edmond

October 11, 2023

How the cost of living crisis affects young people around the world

Douglas Broom

August 8, 2023

From smallpox to COVID: the medical inventions that have seen off infectious diseases over the past century

Andrea Willige

May 11, 2023

COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. Here's what it means

Simon Nicholas Williams

May 9, 2023

New research shows the significant health harms of the pandemic

Philip Clarke, Jack Pollard and Mara Violato

April 17, 2023

Candida auris: What you need to know about the deadly fungus spreading through US hospitals

Rebecca A. Drummond

April 11, 2023