scholarly journals Emergent Crisis of COVID-19 Pandemic: Mental Health Challenges and Opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Radfar ◽  
Maria M. Ferreira ◽  
Juan P. Sosa ◽  
Irina Filip
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Systems ◽  
Public Health Burden ◽  
The Public ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Health Disorders

Mental health is a fundamental human right and is part of the well-being of society. The public health burden of mental health disorders affects people's social and economic status around the world. Coronavirus's (COVID-19) negative impact on the economy and mental health worldwide is concerning. This is a worldwide emergency, and there is an urgent need for research about this topic to prevent long-lasting adverse effects on the population. Unpreparedness and inconsistencies in guidelines, lockdowns, containment strategies, unemployment, financial losses, physical distancing, isolation, chaos, and uncertainty are among factors that lead to a rise in emotional distress, anxiety, and depression. Governments' decisions affect the socioeconomic status of a country and the psychological well-being of the people. COVID-19 pandemic exposed disparities in multiple mental health care systems by having adverse mental health effects in people with pre-existing mental health disorders and previously healthy individuals. Aggregation of concurrent or cumulative comorbid risk factors for COVID-19 disease and its psychosocial sequelae could provide invaluable information for the public health stakeholders. This review aims to address the burden and the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges and opportunities facing mental health systems, and proposes new strategies to improve the mental health outcomes in the post-COVID era.

scholarly journals Burden of mental health disability in Kerala: A secondary time trend analysis from 2002 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Joseph ◽  
H Sankar ◽  
D Nambiar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Disorders

Abstract The fourth target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 advocates for the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. The Indian state of Kerala is recognized for its gains in health and development but has substantial burden of mental health ailments. Historical analysis is vital to understand the pattern of mental health morbidity. The current study focusses on comparable estimates available from three largescale population-based surveys in India to explore trends in prevalence of mental health disorders over the years and map resources and infrastructure available for mental health care in Kerala. We undertook a secondary analysis of national demographic surveys from 2002 to 2018 which reported information on mental health and availability of health infrastructure and human resources. Data were collated and descriptive analyses were conducted. We compared the national and state level estimates over the years to study the trend in the prevalence of mental health disability. The prevalence of mental retardation and intellectual disability in Kerala increased from 194 per hundred thousand persons in 2002 to 300 per hundred thousand persons in 2018, two times higher to the national average. The prevalence of mental illness increased from 272 per hundred thousand people to 400 per hundred thousand people in sixteen years. The prevalence was higher among males (statistical significance was not indicated) in mental illness and mental retardation. 2018 data showed that the public sector had 0.01 hospitals and 5.53 beds per hundred thousand persons available for mental health treatment. Results showed a substantial increase in mental health illness over the 16-year study period that has affected males and females, as well as all social classes of the state. The current health infrastructure and human resources in the public sector of the state are inadequate to meet the current burden of the problem and to ensure universal access to care for its population. Key messages The trend in prevalence of mental health disorders in the state is increasing across the years. There is a mismatch between the extend of the problem and resources available in public sector.

scholarly journals Mental health disorders among students from rural areas three months after returning to school: a cross-sectional study among Polish students (12-13 y.o.)

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Długosz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Returning To School

Abstract: Background: All over the world, the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children and adolescents’ mental health is observed. The conducted research aims to verify whether returning to schools, to the education inside the classroom in the company of their peers, improved or undermined the students’ mental health. Metods: The study was carried out on a sample of students inhabiting rural areas in a borderland region. The research sample was collected using purposive sampling and consisted of 552 respondents from 7th and 8th grades of primary school. An auditorium questionnaire was used to gather the research material. Results: Three months after returning to school, the students are in a bad mental condition. 61% of the respondents are satisfied with their lives, 52% of the respondents show symptoms of depression measured with the WHO-5 index, whereas 85% of them have average and high stress levels as measured with the PSSC scale. Higher levels of mental disorders was observed among females, the students inhabiting villages and evaluating their financial status as worse. Conclusions: Returning to schools failed to have a positive impact on the students’ mental health. Disorders occurring at a large scale will have a negative influence on the students’ performance and hinder their re-adaptation to school. Educational authorities shall immediately provide the students with support and monitor the situation in the next months.

scholarly journals Self-Reported Well-Being Indicators and Case Identification of Common Mental Health Disorders in Routinely Collected Health Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Thompson ◽  
Ann John ◽  
Richard Fry ◽  
Alan Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Resource Utilisation ◽  
Individual Response ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Case Identification ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Well Being

IntroductionCommon mental health disorders (CMD) are significant contributors to impaired health and well-being, and drive greater health resource utilisation. Electronic health records (EHR) are increasingly used for case identification of CMD when ascertaining social determinants of mental health. We seek to compare self-reported well-being indicators in groups identified using EHR-based CMD methods. Objectives and ApproachThe National Survey for Wales (NSW) contains self-reported well-being indicators (Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, WEMWBS) recorded annually on ~7,000 individuals. We combined data from two NSWs and linked well-being indicators with Welsh Longitudinal General Practice (WLGP) data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, using individual response dates. We then used WGLP data to algorithmically derive identifiers of CMD cases within survey respondents. This individual-level linkage enables a comparison of NSW responses in CMD and non-CMD cases, and to assess sensitivity and specificity of the current CMD algorithm. ResultsSurvey participants comprised 18,450 adults aged 16+ and living in Wales during 16/17 or 18/19. WEMWBS responses indicate 2,338 (12.6%) participants could be considered possibly depressed, and 2,268 (12.3%) probably depressed with low mental well-being (LMW). For participants with LMW, a 42/58 percentage split is observed between male/female respondents, compared to a 45/55 respective split of those not identified with LMW. Participants with LMW recorded low measures for overall satisfaction with life, 998 (44%) reported a value of 5 or less (/10) compared to 1123 (7%) participants not identified with LMW. Similarly, 828 (37%) participants identified with LMW reported 5 or less (/10) on the life worthwhile index, compared to 800 (5%) of non-LMW participants. Conclusion / ImplicationsLinkage to the NSW provides a rich data source to compare objective well-being to algorithmically derived CMD cases from routinely collected primary care data. The individual-level linkage involved will allow for the wider determinants of mental health disorders to be examined.

Convergence and the Changing Nature of Innovation

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Amanda Arnold ◽  
Katherine Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Research Universities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
American Research ◽  
Health Disorders

Convergence has the potential to shape cultures of innovation in health and medicine by providing a framework integrating perspectives from multiple disciplines and sectors to tackle challenges such as understanding and addressing mental health disorders and improving well-being. This chapter discusses examples of efforts to establish cultures that support convergence and lessons learned from multiple sectors. The chapter highlights changing perspectives from institutions engaged in convergent research, including universities, industry, philanthropic foundations, and government agencies. Facilitating progress toward solutions that could not otherwise be obtained serves as a critical motivation for pursuing convergence, even when approaches that rely on convergence challenge conventional institutional incentives and structures. Indeed, barriers to establishing and supporting convergence arise where existing organizational practices and structures misalign with the changing nature of innovation. Nevertheless, examples from across the innovation ecosystem, from American research universities to the biotechnology industry, reveal some of the strategies such organizations are using to actively create and foster cultures that support convergence. Federal agencies are also beginning to investigate funding incentives to support convergent work through their grant-making programs. The chapter concludes with an array of actions others have used to help foster convergence institutionally. These lessons learned may have relevance for those interested in establishing convergence in the realm of mental health.

Prevention of mental disorder in childhood and other public health issues

2012 ◽  
pp. 1606-1611
Author(s):  
Rhoshel Lenroot
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Neuroimaging Genetics

Enormous progress has been made in recognizing the scope of mental health problems for children around the world, and in developing the theoretical framework needed to address decreasing this burden in a systematic fashion. Technological advances in neuroimaging, genetics, and computational biology are providing the tools to start describing the biological processes underlying the complex course of development, and have renewed appreciation of the role of the environment in determining how a genetic heritage is expressed. However, rapid technological change is also altering the environment of children and their families at an unprecedented rate, and what kinds of challenges to public health these changes may present is not yet fully understood. What is becoming clear is that as technological advances increase the range of available health care treatments, along with the potential cost, the choices for societies between spending limited resources on treatment or prevention will have to become increasingly deliberate. A substantial body of work has demonstrated that prevention in mental health can be effective, but those who would benefit the most from preventive interventions are often not those with the political or economic resources to make them a priority. While the potential interventions to prevent mental health disorders in children are constrained by the knowledge and resources available, what is actually done depends upon the social and political values of individual communities and nations. It is to be hoped that as our understanding of these disorders grows, public policies to prevent the development of mental health disorders in children will become as commonplace a responsibility for modern societies as the provision of clean drinking water.

"Importance of Mental Health" (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Muhammad Soomar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Health It ◽  
Handling Stress ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Health Disorders

UNSTRUCTURED Health is the state of overall well-being which includes physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Good health is a resource for living everyday life. It is central for functioning properly, handling stress, living a longer and more active life. Physical well-being includes a healthful lifestyle to decrease the risk of disease. Mental health is equally important as physical health, it is integral and important component of health, it provides strength and enhance a person’s ability to complete regular tasks . Differences in socioeconomic and other living conditions can lead to health inequities which can impact on a person’s health especially mental health though this is not the case in every situation, however the risk to an individual’s mental health determine how the person is going to suffer with mental health issues as these risk factors are not only bounded to poor socio-economic class . Violence, rapid social change, stressful work conditions, gender discrimination, social exclusion, physically ill health, sexual abuse, and persistent socio-economic pressures are recognized as risk factors for poor mental health. Moreover, there are some personality factors and genetic factors that also make people vulnerable to mental health disorders . Mental health issues alone add a lot in the global burden of disease however it is associated with other diseases and conditions as well. Mental health disorders in different forms and intensities a large number of people in their lifetime which not only impact on their health but it causes economic burden on the person and family as well . Despite a greater population is affected from mental health illness, the estimates produced through research regarding are still underestimated the reasons may be overlapping between psychiatric and neurological disorder and keeping suicide behaviors associated with self-harm a separate category other than mental illness . The major reason of underestimation can be less no reporting for these illness due to stigma associated with it. Stigma is the negative attitude towards the illness which creates discrimination and is the main obstacle in seeking help and care .

scholarly journals Mental Health in the Workplace

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (9) ◽  
pp. 448-448
Author(s):  
Maureen Cadorette ◽  
Jacqueline Agnew
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Job Success ◽  
Health Disorders

Mental health disorders can have a serious impact on workers’ well-being and job success.

scholarly journals Mental health among clinicians: what do we know and what can we do?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mittal Patel ◽  
Steven Swift ◽  
Alex Digesu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Help Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Medical Teams ◽  
Changing Attitudes

AbstractMental health and mental health disorders among clinicians remain a taboo, despite increasing evidence showing the direct impact on medical teams and patient care. This editorial is aimed at increasing awareness of mental issues amongst healthcare professionals, identifying perceived barriers to seeking help, and suggesting ways in which to seek help. Mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, are prevalent from medical school, leading to increased burnout and suicide risks at later stages of a clinician’s career. There is often a reluctance to seek help, particularly amongst the surgical specialties, caused by self-criticism, lack of convenient access and the potential negative impact on medical licensure. This editorial has been written in loving memory of our colleague, friend and board member Dr. Nikolaus Veit-Rubin, who sadly passed away at the beginning of the year. It is written in the hope of highlighting the importance of maintaining mental wellbeing amongst the medical team, supporting help-seeking behaviour and changing attitudes toward mental health disorders amongst clinicians.

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