Corresponding author Praveen Kumar Mishra* Department of Psychology, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009 Mail id: pmlucky0@gmail.com. Cell: 9328296572 An Assessment of Psychological Distress in Societies of Ahmedabad During nCovid19 Pandemic Praveen Kumar Mishra* 1 , Santosh Kumar Vaidya 2 & Archana Vaghela 3 1 Department of Psychology, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. 2 Shankersinh Vaghela Bapu Institute of Pharmacy, Vasan, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. 3 Mayur Higher Secondary School, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Abstract The present investigation on psychological distress among the residential area in Ahmedabad regard to taken age group. This research conducted on 200 subjects on the potential moderating role of urban and rural area and the age group in the relation between psychological distresses. Purposive sampling method was used to gather the sample of 200 urban and rural area. In this research, residential area and age taken as independent variables. "2x2 Factoral Design" was used to categorize to the sample in 2 equal parts of 2 independent variables. First independent variable has two levels; Urban and rural. Second variable is age i.e. 20-30 and 40-50 years. The result showed that a global look at the scores of residential area on Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) shows that the significant difference at >0.05 level between the residential area with F-ratio of 48.247, and there is significant difference between the level of Psychological Distress and age with F-ratio of 32.4825 at >0.05 level. Rural societies having low distress feeling in each variables as compared to the urban society. They differ with respect with each other. These two type of area are significantly different on psychological distress scores. There is not significant interaction effect seen between residential area and age in the level of psychological distress therefore they do not differ when the group of age (20-30 and 40-50 years) and the residential area (urban and rural) interacts with each other. Keywords: Anxiety; depression; Kessler psychological distress; Moderating role; Mental health; 1. Introduction Psychological distress is a general term used to describe unpleasant feelings or emotions that impact your level of functioning. In other words, it is psychological discomfort that interferes with your activities of daily living. Psychological distress can result in negative views of the environment, others, and the self. Sadness, anxiety, distraction, and symptoms of mental illness are manifestations of psychological distress. So, no two people experience one event the exact same way. Psychological distress is a subjective experience. That is, the severity of psychological distress is dependent upon the situation and how we perceive it. We can think of psychological distress as a continuum with 'mental health' and 'mental illness' at opposing ends. As we continue to experience different things, we travel back and forth on the continuum at different times throughout our lives. [1] Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of life, if a person experience in mental health problems so thinking, mood, and behavior could be altered. Many factors contribute to mental health, including Biological factors, such as genetic factors or neuronal and neurotransmitters factors, Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse, Family history of mental health problems. [2] In the present pandemic people experiencing sleeplessness, feeling anxious, boredom, panic attacks, nightmares, feeling of worthlessness, fear of contracting COVID-19, fear of spreading the infection to others, health anxiety, feeling of detention, anxiety related to uncertainty about future, anxiety about death and dying in abnormal circumstances without access to other relatives are some of the psychological issues that can occur in older adults. Some of them may develop depression, anxiety disorders, post- AEGAEUM JOURNAL Volume 8, Issue 5, 2020 ISSN NO: 0776-3808 http://aegaeum.com/ Page No: 630