scholarly journals IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID CRISIS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Author(s):  
Jeetika Duggal ◽  
Manu Bhai Gaur

The global pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19), also termed as health emergency affecting nearly 210 countries and territories has led to negative emotions of fear and agony in the general population. The healthcare regulators and the governments have imposed emergencies and lockdowns in their countries which has led to an adverse effect on the mental health of general public ultimately leading to a rise in anxiety, depression, and associated mental illness. The fear and rising COVID-19 crisis is putting extreme limitations on our finite resources. This report aims to improve status of mental health altered as a result of pandemic, emphasizing to help the general public, mitigate the negative emotions to improve the general wellbeing in this detached period of isolation. With no standard treatment or vaccine yet, the goal is primarily symptomatic relief for those affected and preventive for those at risk. Most countries have curtailed the spread of COVID-19 through measures such as lockdowns, social distancing and voluntary self-isolation. Although necessary, such measures and the disease itself may have an adverse impact on mental health. In view of research from previous pandemic crisis, it is known that such situations are likely to increase stress levels and have negative psychiatric effects. The impact is likely to be felt by the general public, sufferers of COVID-19, their families and friends, persons with pre-existing mental health conditions and healthcare workers. COVID pandemic related psychological distress in the general public, including symptoms of anxiety and depression, is associated with alterations in immune function, including an elevated risk of viral respiratory tract infection.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Saurav Kumar

The COVID-19 pandemic is worldwide wellbeing and financial emergency of a scale never saw. Starting in China, it has, inside a couple of months, crushed numerous nations throughout the planet, requiring an uncommon assembly of wellbeing frameworks. While the infection brought about by this novel infection is, for the most part, gentle and self-restricting, the danger of serious illness is lopsidedly great among old and those with basic ailments. Without an antibody or treatment, the general wellbeing techniques include: (a) forestalling transmission through early discovery and separation, following contacts and isolating them and execution of measures, for example, social removing and hand cleanliness and (b) decreasing mortality by enlarging clinical administration and protecting the weakest populaces in the general public. The pandemic is one more update. We need to put resources into general wellbeing, increase public abilities to recognize an illness early and react quickly to arising contaminations, fortify and regard our public establishments and depend on proof base for policymaking. Ample opportunity has already passed that we paid regard to these exercises and fortified immediately our wellbeing framework limit, as plagues and pandemics of this nature will keep on general testing wellbeing great into what’s to come. This paper attempts to comprehend the various parts of monetary difficulties looked at by the Indian medical services framework and devise the potential measures to beat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It investigations the present moment and conceivable long haul effect of this pandemic on the medical services area of India as far as productivity and value.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Luo ◽  
Cher Rui Chua ◽  
Zhonghui Xiong ◽  
Roger C. Ho ◽  
Cyrus S. H. Ho

Background: The twenty-first century viral respiratory epidemics have taught us valuable lessons. Our systematic review examined the impact of these epidemics, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), on mental health among different population groups, drawing on their insights for recommendations for the current COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Searches were performed on PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, and Cochrane on April 4, 2020. Studies that had undefined mental health outcomes or did not use a validated scale for measure were excluded. Quality assessment was carried out via the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale.Results: We included 95 studies, most of which were conducted in Hong Kong (31.6%) and China (21.4%). A total of 30 (30.9%) studies are on the general public, 41 (42.2%) on healthcare workers, and 26 (26.6%) on patients and quarantined individuals. Furthermore, 36 (37.1%) of the studies are of high quality, 48 (49.5%) are of moderate quality, and 13 (13.4%) are of low quality. The most significant mental health outcomes reported include anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. The subgroups identified to have a higher risk of psychiatric symptoms among the general public include females, the elderly, individuals with chronic illness, migrant workers, and students. Long-term mental health impact was reported in some healthcare workers and epidemic patients, even up to 3 years in the former. Interestingly, when compared to non-quarantined groups, quarantine was not significantly associated with worse mental health outcomes.Conclusion: Important implications for the COVID-19 pandemic were highlighted. Respiratory epidemics pose a significant psychological morbidity onto many population groups. Psychological support for vulnerable groups, including healthcare workers and patients, should be implemented to prevent them from spiraling into clinical psychiatric conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042110198
Author(s):  
Helen Onyeaka ◽  
Christian K Anumudu ◽  
Zainab T Al-Sharify ◽  
Esther Egele-Godswill ◽  
Paul Mbaegbu

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, leading to some form of lockdown across almost all countries of the world. The extent of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 has a significant impact on our lives that must be studied carefully to combat it. This study highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on crucial aspects of daily life globally, including; Food security, Global economy, Education, Tourism, hospitality, sports and leisure, Gender Relation, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health and Environmental air pollution through a systematic search of the literature. The COVID-19 global lockdown was initiated to stem the spread of the virus and ‘flatten the curve’ of the pandemic. However, the impact of the lockdown has had far-reaching effects in different strata of life, including; changes in the accessibility and structure of education delivery to students, food insecurity as a result of unavailability and fluctuation in prices, the depression of the global economy, increase in mental health challenges, wellbeing and quality of life amongst others. This review article highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the globe. As the global lockdown is being lifted in a phased manner in various countries of the world, it is necessary to explore its impacts to understand its consequences comprehensively. This will guide future decisions that will be made in a possible future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global disease outbreak.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-420
Author(s):  
Hannah Butler-Coyne ◽  
Vaithehy Shanmuganathan-Felton ◽  
Jamie Taylor

Equestrian media is showing an increasing interest in the impact of mental health on performance and general wellbeing of equestrian athletes. This study explores the awareness of mental health difficulties and psychological wellbeing within equestrian sport from the perspectives of equestrian athletes, instructors/coaches and parents. The exploratory nature of the research offered opportunity to use a dual approach including e-surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the qualitative data identified five key themes (Emotional WellbeinginBalance; Emotional WellbeingImbalance; WellbeingImbalance—Impact on Equestrian Sportspeople; Impact of Equestrian Sport on Wellbeing; Regaining Balance) and 22 sub-themes. The findings determine a compelling need for education, promotion of sharing experiences, facilitation of specialist (clinical and sport) professional training and intervention as well as a review of regulations from equestrian Governing Bodies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Christine Duquette ◽  
Stephanie Morgan

Psychotherapists in private practice provide services to an ever-growing client population. The 2020 novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic was a catalyst for emerging and exasperated mental health concerns among the U.S. population. The result was an increase in demand for services and private practitioners stepping up to meet this growing need. Little is known about the psychotherapists who embark on independent practice and less is known about the nuances of practicing during a global pandemic. The aim of this review was to exhaust the literature on private practice psychotherapy and the practice of psychotherapy during COVID-19, synthesize the findings, report on themes in the literature, and provide recommendations for future lines of inquiry. Themes from this review included the impact of COVID-19 on public mental health, telemental health, private practice shifts, and private practice careers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi E. Jones ◽  
Meredith Manze ◽  
Victoria Ngo ◽  
Patricia Lamberson ◽  
Nicholas Freudenberg

AbstractUnderstanding the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on students’ health and financial stability is important to establish effective interventions to mitigate these effects, which may have long-term consequences on their health and wellbeing. Public universities in urban centers represent a substantial proportion of college students in the United States. We implemented a cross-sectional population-based online survey of 2,282 students in a large, public university in New York City in April 2020. We created weights to account for non-response and used Poisson regression with robust standard errors to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) for factors associated with mental health outcomes. Students experienced high rates of anxiety/depression and financial instability due to the pandemic. Half of the students reported anxiety/depression (54.5%) and an increased need for mental health services (49.0%) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority (81.1%) reported loss of household income, and half (49.8%) reported worries about losing housing. High levels of food (aPR=1.4, 95% CI 1.2, 1.6) and housing (aPR=1.3, 95% CI 1.2, 1.4) insecurity were the strongest predictors of anxiety/depression. Household and personal experiences with possible COVID-19 symptoms were also associated with anxiety/depression or the need for increased mental health services. Addressing student needs at public urban universities requires an integrated holistic approach that targets urgent mental health and economic needs related to the impact of COVID-19. Students who become infected need mental health services as well as health monitoring.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geovan Menezes de Sousa ◽  
Vagner Deuel de Oliveira Tavares ◽  
Maria Lara Porpino de Meiroz Grilo ◽  
Monique Leite Galvão Coelho ◽  
Geissy Lainny de Lima-Araújo ◽  
...  

Background: Mental health burden has been massively reported during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Aiming to summarise these data, we present a meta-review of meta-analyses that evaluated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety, depressive and stress symptoms, psychological distress, post-traumatic stress disorder/symptoms (PTSD), and sleep disturbance, reporting its prevalence on general public (GP) and health care workers (HCW).Methods: A search was performed in the PubMed, EMBASE, and the Web of Science. Sleep disturbances, psychological distress, stress, and burnout were grouped as “Psychophysiological stress,” and anxiety, depression, and PTSD were grouped as “Psychopathology.” A random-effects model, calculating the pooled prevalence together with 95% confidence interval was performed for each domain. Subgroup analyses were performed for each population type (GP and HCW) and for each mental health outcome. For anxiety and depression, subgroup analysis for population type was performed. Heterogeneity is reported as I2. Publication bias was assessed through visual inspection of the funnel plot, and further tested by Egger's test and trim and fill analyses.Results: A total of 18 meta-analyses were included. The prevalence of psychophysiological stress was 31.99% (CI: 26.88–37.58, I2 = 99.9%). HCW showed a higher prevalence (37.74%, CI: 33.26–42.45, I2 = 99.7%) than the GP (20.67%, 15.07–27.66, I2 = 99.9%). The overall prevalence of insomnia, psychological distress, and stress were, respectively, 32.34% (CI: 25.65–39.84), 28.25% (CI: 18.12–41.20), and 36% (CI: 29.31–43.54). Psychopathology was present at 26.45% (CI: 24.22–28.79, I2 = 99.9%) of the sample, with similar estimates for population (HCW 26.14%, CI: 23.37–29.12, I2 = 99.9%; GP: 26.99%, CI: 23.41–30.9, I2 = 99.9%). The prevalence of anxiety, depression, and PTSD was 27.77% (CI: 24.47–31.32), 26.93% (CI: 23.92–30.17), and 20% (CI: 15.54–24.37), respectively. Similar proportions between populations were found for anxiety (HCW = 27.5%, CI: 23.78–31.55; GP = 28.33%, CI: 22.1–35.5) and depression (HCW = 27.05%, CI: 23.14–31.36; GP = 26.7%, CI: 22.32–31.59). Asymmetry in the funnel plot was found, and a slight increase in the estimate of overall psychopathology (29.08%, CI: 26.42–31.89) was found after the trim and fill analysis.Conclusions: The prevalence of mental health problems ranged from 20 to 36%. HCW presented a higher prevalence of psychophysiological stress than the general population.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=252221, identifier: CRD42021252221.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Fardin ◽  
Sophia Khaneghahi

Background: The long-term outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), accompanied by high mortality rates, hysteria, and economic pressures, has profound, irreversible psychological effects worldwide. Objectives: This study compared mental health and post-traumatic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in the peak period of the pandemic in five regions of Iran. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was carried out at the peak of the pandemic using free Google Forms® software. A snowball sampling method focused on the general public in the north east-west, central part, and south east-west of Iran was utilized from March 24 to 29th of 2020. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were applied as data collection tools. Results: The current study included 749 respondents from all provinces in Iran. Most of the participants were from the southeast and the central part of Iran and stayed at home for about 20 to 24 hours during COVID-19 outbreak. The results of MANOVA indicated that there were no significant differences between the means of mental disorders and the impacts of COVID-19 outbreak in these five regions (F = 1.188, Wilks’ Lambda = 0.97, P ≥ 0.05). Nevertheless, one-sample test showed that the IES-R mean score was above the cut-off point, indicating the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in all regions of Iran (t = 8.025, P ≤ 0.05, 95% CI: 3.22 to 5.31). Conclusions: As a result of this study that shows the presence of PTSD symptoms in all regions, mental health care is a necessity and should be provided to the general public so that psychologists and mental health teams have to provide psychological services in-person or online method.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1083-1085
Author(s):  
Indrajit Banerjee ◽  
Jared Robinson ◽  
Brijesh Sathian ◽  
Indraneel Banerjee

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has firmly rooted itself within our countries, communities, homes and now everyday lives. The impact of this global pandemic is immeasurable as it is catastrophic in nature and involves both a human and financial loss. Suicide and self-harm (SH) are both a serious public health and social issue. It is however preventable via the use of timely, evidence-based and many times low-cost interventions and therapies. The current situation depicted Nepal shows a true indicator of the mental health of the nation, as a precipitating factor (i.e., the extreme stress of COVID-19 and the lockdown) has exposed the submerged “ice-berg” phenomenon of disease.  It is evident that COVID-19 and the lockdown had a massively negative effect on the mental health of the population in Nepal. The increased rates of suicide and self-harm also simultaneously exposed the great pre-existing fragility of the mental health of the nation. It is therefore vital that both Nepal and other countries alike take cognizance of the fact that extra support and preventative measures need to be introduced during this difficult period and that further national programs must be employed to best aid the mental health of their fellow countrymen.


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