COVID-19 lockdown measures have caused severe disruptions to work and education and prevented people from engaging in many rewarding activities. Cannabis users may be especially vulnerable, having been previously shown to have higher levels of apathy and anhedonia than non-users. In this survey study, we measured apathy and anhedonia, before and after lockdown measures were implemented, in n = 256 adult and n = 200 adolescent cannabis users and n = 170 adult and n = 172 adolescent controls. Scores on the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) and Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) were investigated with mixed-measures ANCOVA, with factors user group, age group, and time, controlling for depression, anxiety, and other drug use. Adolescent cannabis users had significantly higher SHAPS scores before lockdown, indicative of greater anhedonia, compared with adolescent controls (P = .03, η p2 = .013). Contrastingly, adult users had significantly lower scores on both the SHAPS (P < .001, η p2 = .030) and AES (P < .001, η p2 = .048) after lockdown compared with adult controls. Scores on both scales increased during lockdown across groups, and this increase was significantly smaller for cannabis users (AES: P = .001, η p2 = .014; SHAPS: P = .01, η p2 = .008). Exploratory analyses revealed that dependent cannabis users had significantly higher scores overall (AES: P < .001, η p2 = .037; SHAPS: P < .001, η p2 = .029) and a larger increase in scores (AES: P = .04, η p2 =.010; SHAPS: P = .04, η p2 = .010), compared with non-dependent users. Our results suggest that adolescents and adults have differential associations between cannabis use as well as apathy and anhedonia. Within users, dependence may be associated with higher levels of apathy and anhedonia regardless of age and a greater increase in levels during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Global responses to the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in various forms of “lockdown” being imposed on citizens. These lockdown measures have resulted in significant changes to all aspects of daily life for all those who live under them. Lockdowns have however, also provided a unique opportunity for psychologists to examine how changes in the structure of daily life influence our experience of time. This talk will review recent research examining the impact on covid-19 on real-world time experience. It will look to discuss whether the factors which influence “normal” time experience also influenced time experience during lockdown. Finally, it will try to highlight some potential future directions for enhancing our understanding of real-life time distortion.

Adolescence is a period of life characterised by heightened sensitivity to social stimuli, an increased need for peer interaction and peer acceptance, and development of the social brain. Lockdown and social distancing measures intended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are reducing the opportunity to engage in face-to-face social interaction with peers. The consequences of social distancing on human social brain and social cognitive development are unknown, but animal research has shown that social deprivation and isolation have unique effects on brain and behaviour in adolescence compared with other stages of life. It is possible that social distancing might have a disproportionate effect on an age group for whom peer interaction is a vital aspect of development.

COVID -19 has affected social interaction and healthcare worldwide. This talk will focus on the impact of the pandemic and “lockdown” on mental health services, community physical health services, and patient mortality in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, based on the analysis of de-identified data from the primary NHS provider of secondary care mental health services to this population (~0.86 million)

The recent pandemic arrived at a time when mental health of children and young people was deteriorating, particular among teenage girls and young women. Lockdown produced a plethora of mental health surveys, but very few of these had pre-pandemic data. This talk will summarise the current evidence of how covid-19 seems to have affected the mental health of children and young people from various studies in the UK.