COVID-19 Impact on Mental Health

nificant risk of adverse mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak. Reasons for this include long working hours, risk of infection, shortages of protective equipment, loneliness, physical fatigue, and separation from families.

Health anxiety, which arises from the misinterpretation of perceived bodily sensations and changes, can be protective in everyday life. However, during an outbreak of infectious disease, particularly in the presence of inaccurate or exaggerated information from the media, health anxiety can become excessive.

At an individual level, this can manifest as maladaptive behaviours (repeated medical consultations, avoiding health care even if genuinely ill, hoarding particular items like toilet paper and fuel); at a broader societal level, it can lead to mistrust of public authorities and scapegoating of particular populations or groups such as cross-border truck drivers. COVID-19 is an individual and collective traumatic event and directly or indirectly has affected every individual in the world. Vulnerable population such as older adults, pregnant women, people with existing physical and mental illnesses, victims of abuse and violence, living with abusers and perpetrators, people living below the poverty line and other individuals are susceptible of not just contracting the coronavirus but the psychological trauma as well. Many people are going through interpersonal traumatic events as well in addition to the collective traumatic COVID-19: domestic violence (gender-based violence), abuse, financial burden, loneliness, emotional and behavioural problems, grief and bereavement, fear of losing family and mental health issues. Women who get pregnant during the pandemic are more likely to experience symptoms of severe depression and anxiety, more negativity and less positivity, and greater changes in cognition and mood than women who were pregnant before the pandemic, regardless of gestational age, income, history of psychiatric diagnoses, and education, some studies suggest. The social support allows a new mother to take a break or nap and not being alone with the difficulties of early parenthood. In contrast, isolation and a loss of control can be an issue from a mental health perspective during and after pregnancy.

Interventions

Psychological Crisis Intervention (PCI) And Psychological First Aid (PFA)

Psychological Crisis Intervention (PCI) and Psychological First Aid (PFA) are the early interventions that focus on the psychological health of the affected individuals and offer a designed tool by providing psychosocial support to mitigate distress during outbreaks such as COVID-19. PCI and PFA are essential for emergency management to orient emotionally overwhelmed survivors and vulnerable individuals through practical help, contact, engaging, safety, and comfort, and through addressing stress-related reactions. PFA model consists of developing rapport through active and empathetic reflective listening, assessment and evaluation of psychological needs, prioritization depending on the severity of emergent cases, cognitive and behavioural interventions to mitigate distress, and disposition and followup until stabilization of the situation through constant support and regular monitoring.

There is a need for adequate training of Healthcare personnel including Safety, Health and Environmental health officers (SHE officers) in screening for mental disorders and providing accurate information to the general public in order to minimize maladaptive responses such as “panic” and paranoia regarding the disease and its transmission.

Telehealth has phenomenal potential when it comes to mental health issues. This can facilitate the development of online materials for mental health education, the provision of online counselling and self-help services, the development of telemedicine services for diagnostic purposes as well as counselling, making mental health services accessible to individuals from lower socioeconomic and rural areas. Such strategies offer the hope of providing mental health services in an easily accessible manner without any increase in COVID-19 infection risk.

Dr Sivako is MD, Founder & CEO of Welmedics, a company that specialises in Lifestyle Medicine, Genomic Medicine & Digital Health Innovations. Email: elijahsv@gmail. com WhatsApp number: 73594189.