The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 caused many changes and consequences in the world, and it also had a major impact in the field of mental health. In my graduation thesis, I was interested in how the pandemic of COVID-19 and accompanying measures are related to the mental health of young people and what were their strategies for coping with the consequences of the epidemic and epidemiological measures. In the theoretical part of the thesis I first defined mental health and summarized some theoretical starting points on this topic, then I described the occurrence of stress, anxiety and depression, and in the last part of the theoretical introduction I presented the COVID-19 pandemic and its relation to mental health of young people. In the research part, I presented my qualitative research, where I conducted interviews with eight young people. I focused on how young people experienced the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, how it affected their mental health and their daily functioning, and what would the young people need to improve their well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. The results of the research showed that young people faced with poor mental health in both the first and third waves of the pandemic. Stress, insecurity, lethargy, and malaise were prevalent among young people, and they also faced difficulties with online learning. Most of the young people felt hopelessness, sadness, melancholy and tiredness, and pointed out the problems with the accumulation of their workload. They had a negative impact on their daily lives as they experienced a changed daily routine, faced loss of social contacts, had difficulty managing obligations and had difficulties monitoring the media in connection with the pandemic. It was found that the measures of the epidemic had a negative impact on the well-being and functioning of young people, as they largely failed to meet their life and school goals and obligations. During the pandemic, psychological and physical consequences were also found, most notable were anxiety, panic attacks, frequent crying and insomnia, loneliness, anxiety and depression. However, the positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was seen only with some exceptions, which were in different circumstances than most. The positive factors that helped young people to cope with the consequences of the pandemic were good organization of obligations, accepting the situation, physical activity, family support, maintaining contact with relatives and friends, and professional help. Young people also pointed out that they needed more support and help from schools and colleges during the pandemic, and mentioned the importance of family support in seeking professional help.
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