Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing during Covid-19

Author(s):  
Bindu Nair ◽  
Jaya Mathew

Worldwide COVID-19 pandemic had led to a prolonged stressful condition and bring about more psychological and social effects in the community. This condition is commonly seen in each group and more commonly it has affected in children, older peoples and even the health workers who are exposed and likely to bring about the condition of stress, anxiety, uneasiness and depression. These prolonged psychosocial issues may result in mental health problems and long-term consequence on the mental functioning and coping capacities of family members. The aim of this article is to explain some of the psychosocial impacts, and more is emphasis given in identifying these psychosocial problems and some of the strategies which can be used to overcome these issues.

Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Palinkas ◽  
Meaghan L. O’Donnell ◽  
Winnie Lau ◽  
Marleen Wong

This narrative review examined strategies for preparedness and response to mental health impacts of three forms of climate change from a services perspective: (1) acute and extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, (2) sub-acute or long-term events such as droughts and heatwaves; and (3) the prospect of long-term and permanent changes, including higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and an uninhabitable physical environment. Strategies for acute events included development and implementation of programs and practices for monitoring and treating mental health problems and strengthening individual and community resilience, training of community health workers to deliver services, and conducting inventories of available resources and assessments of at-risk populations. Additional strategies for sub-acute changes included advocacy for mitigation policies and programs and adaptation of guidelines and interventions to address the secondary impacts of sub-acute events, such as threats to livelihood, health and well-being, population displacement, environmental degradation, and civil conflict. Strategies for long-lasting changes included the implementation of evidence-based risk communication interventions that address the existing and potential threat of climate change, promoting the mental health benefits of environmental conservation, and promoting psychological growth and resilience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-317
Author(s):  
Trine Wulf-Andersen ◽  
Lene Larsen

In this article, we point to mental health as a new sorting mechanism in higher education (HE), working through categories informed by psychological and psychiatric knowledge, which currently permeate the field of education. The significant increase in young people, for example students in HE, with mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression seems to be a general development in Western countries over the past decade. The focus on mental health sets in motion a broad range of wellbeing discussions and initiatives in terms of mental illness and/or psychiatric diagnoses, rather than in terms of learning, pedagogy or participation and inequalities in education. This directs attention to particular kinds of students rather than to educational relations, cultures and contexts. Against this background, we set out to discuss how certain categorisations and understandings of students’ wellbeing and everyday problems, inspired by the psy-sciences, intertwine with neoliberal traits in educational institutions, and come to mediate students’ emotional experience of and coping with psychosocial problems and their participation in HE.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Bojana Pejušković ◽  
Maša Vukčević-Marković

In the past few years the number of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers worldwide has increased dramatically. Serbia, as a mainly transit country currently hosts over 6,000 new asylum-seekers and refugees, over 26.200 refugees and 198.500 internally displaced persons from the ex-Yugoslavia region, and 1.950 persons at risk of statelessness. Migrants are often under acute and chronic stress. Many of them were traumatized in their homelands and during their journey , due to persecution, violence, and human right violations, and they are confronted with ongoing stressors in the exile countries. Extensive research has shown increased rates and substantial variability in the prevalence of short-term and long-term mental health problems among refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. The most prevalent psychiatric disorders are depression, anxiety, prolonged grief, somatoform disorders, psychosis, substance use disorders, and disorders specifically related to stress, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder. It's urgent to offer a systemic and sustainable solutions for mental health protection, in order to reduce trauma related mental health problems and prevent long-term consequences. Multisectoral, evidence-based and multidisciplinary approach is recognized as crucial in identifying needs of these populations and enabling proper protection of their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 242-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éva Kállay

Abstract. The last several decades have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of individuals suffering from both diagnosable and subsyndromal mental health problems. Consequently, the development of cost-effective treatment methods, accessible to large populations suffering from different forms of mental health problems, became imperative. A very promising intervention is the method of expressive writing (EW), which may be used in both clinically diagnosable cases and subthreshold symptomatology. This method, in which people express their feelings and thoughts related to stressful situations in writing, has been found to improve participants’ long-term psychological, physiological, behavioral, and social functioning. Based on a thorough analysis and synthesis of the published literature (also including most recent meta-analyses), the present paper presents the expressive writing method, its short- and long-term, intra-and interpersonal effects, different situations and conditions in which it has been proven to be effective, the most important mechanisms implied in the process of recovery, advantages, disadvantages, and possible pitfalls of the method, as well as variants of the original technique and future research directions.


Author(s):  
Brad Partridge ◽  
Wayne Hall

Concussion management policies have become a major priority worldwide for sports that involve frequent collisions between participants because repeated head trauma has been associated with long-term cognitive impairments, mental health problems, and some forms of neurological degeneration. A number of concussion management policies have been developed by professional bodies and subsequently adopted by various sporting leagues. These have offered little guidance on how to navigate ethical issues in identifying and managing concussion. This chapter discusses ethical issues that arise in the diagnosis of concussion, debates about the longer-term consequences of repeated concussion injuries, and the design and implementation of policies that aim to prevent and manage concussion injuries in sporting matches.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110175
Author(s):  
Roberto Rusca ◽  
Ike-Foster Onwuchekwa ◽  
Catherine Kinane ◽  
Douglas MacInnes

Background: Relationships are vital to recovery however, there is uncertainty whether users have different types of social networks in different mental health settings and how these networks may impact on users’ wellbeing. Aims: To compare the social networks of people with long-term mental illness in the community with those of people in a general adult in-patient unit. Method: A sample of general adult in-patients with enduring mental health problems, aged between 18 and 65, was compared with a similar sample attending a general adult psychiatric clinic. A cross-sectional survey collected demographic data and information about participants’ social networks. Participants also completed the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale to examine well-being and the Significant Others Scale to explore their social network support. Results: The study recruited 53 participants (25 living in the community and 28 current in-patients) with 339 named as important members of their social networks. Both groups recorded low numbers in their social networks though the community sample had a significantly greater number of social contacts (7.4 vs. 5.4), more monthly contacts with members of their network and significantly higher levels of social media use. The in-patient group reported greater levels of emotional and practical support from their network. Conclusions: People with serious and enduring mental health problems living in the community had a significantly greater number of people in their social network than those who were in-patients while the in-patient group reported greater levels of emotional and practical support from their network. Recommendations for future work have been made.


Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Yan Xu ◽  
Wantian Cui

BACKGROUND: China’s atmospheric PM2.5 pollution is serious, and PM2.5 exerts a negative impact on the human respiratory system, cardiovascular, and mental health, and even more serious health risk for the elderly with weak immunity. OBJECTIVE: This work aims to analyse the impacts of PM2.5 microenvironment exposure on the health of the elderly and provide corresponding countermeasures. METHODS: The survey subjects are 118 retired elderly people in the community. PM2.5 exposure concentrations are monitored in summer (June 10 ∼ July 10, 2019) and winter (November 25 ∼ December 25, 2019). RESULTS: The exposure concentration in winter is higher than that in summer, with statistical difference (P <  0.05). Under the impact of PM2.5 microenvironment exposure, smoking in the elderly can increase the concentration of PM2.5, and long-term exposure to PM2.5 in the elderly can cause mental health problems. CONCLUSION: Long-term exposure of the elderly to the PM2.5 microenvironment leads to physical diseases and even psychological problems, which requires attention.


Author(s):  
Julie Høgsgaard Andersen ◽  
Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen ◽  
Susanne Reventlow ◽  
Annette Sofie Davidsen

The international literature shows that primary care is well placed to address mental health problems in young people, but that primary care professionals experience a range of challenges in this regard. In Denmark, young adults who have complex psychosocial problems, and who are not in education or work, cause political and academic concern. They are also in regular contact with their general practitioners, the Danish municipalities and psychiatric services. However, little is known about general practitioners’ perspectives on caring for this vulnerable group of patients. In this article, we investigate how general practitioners’ care work is shaped by the bureaucratic management of care in a complex infrastructure network comprising the general practitioners, psychiatry, the municipalities and the young adults. The analysis is based on interviews and focus groups with general practitioners, psychiatric nurses and social workers. We employ Tronto’s concept of care and the concept of boundary work as a theoretical framework. We argue that general practitioners strive to provide care, but they are challenged by the following: contested diagnostic interpretations and the bureaucratic significance of diagnoses for the provision of care from psychiatry and the municipalities, systemic issues with handling intertwined social and mental health problems, and the young adults’ difficulties with accessing and receiving available care.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Qi ◽  
Ting Hu ◽  
Qi-Qi Ge ◽  
Xiao-Na Zhou ◽  
Jia-Mei Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than 1 year, causing far-reaching and unprecedented changes in almost all aspects of society. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on depression and anxiety, and explore the factors associated with it. Methods A cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted to assess mental health problems from February 2 to February 9, 2021 by using patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7). The insomnia severity index (ISI), demographic data and COVID-19 related variables were measured by a self-designed questionnaire. The factors associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms were identified by Pearson chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis. Results In the study that 1171 participants enrolled, the overall prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among general people was 22.6 and 21.4% respectively in the present study. Living alone was a potential risk factor for depressive symptoms, while regular exercises was a potential protective factor. The prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was significantly associated with the severity of insomnia symptoms and the negative feelings about pandemic. Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic- related chronic stress has brought about profound impacts on long-term mental health in the general population. The level of insomnia and a negative attitude towards the pandemic are significantly correlated with unfavorable mental health. However, we failed to found a significant association of age and gender with the mental health symptoms, although they were recognized as well-established risk factors during the outbreak by some other studies. This discrepancy may be because the acute and chronic effects of the pandemic are influenced by different factors, which reminds that more attention should be paid to the intrinsic psychological factors and physical reactions towards COVID-19.


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