Importance of mental health in the fight against COVID-19

COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory illness which has since been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although COVID-19 has its origins in biology, there are a number of psychological factors that can impact its spread.

In a pandemic, the population’s psychological reactions play an essential role in both the spreading and containment of the disease. At times such as this where we find ourselves cornered and waiting for some scientist to find a cure, behaviour is the only armour that people have in order to fight COVID-19.

Research has shown that both individual and family stress are linked to greater incidences of upper respiratory infections in human beings. Stress is considered a normal part of life. However, prolonged exposure to stress can be harmful to the body. It is therefore imperative that mental wellbeing be prioritised in the fight to curb COVID-19 infections.

Information has been shared reminding people on the need to focus on what is in their control and avoid catastrophising everything looking out of the silver lining amidst widespread serious illness, social and community instability, economic difficulties and uncertainty.

The human race cannot magically control these feelings or eliminate all the fear and anxiety. Mental health intervention becomes important to help the population cope and adjust. Unfortunately, mental health has for long been treated as the cinderella of healthcare, kept in the periphery and hidden from the world.

If as a country we are to be successful in combating the deadly COVID-19, it is important that mental health be considered an important factor.

Human behaviour will determine how quickly or slowly COVID-19 spreads. The capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour model (COM-B) recognises that behaviour is part of an interacting system.

Capability involves the individual’s psychological and physical capacity to engage in the activity concerned and includes having the necessary knowledge and skills, in this case, if people have few resources. Knowledge or information pertaining to COVID-19 behaviours that lead to exposure may continue unabated.

Opportunity comprises of all the factors that lie outside the individual that make the behaviour possible. It is crucial to note that often the people’s capability (C) and opportunity (O) to engage in preventive measures are absent, and people may act in ways that may increase exposure to COVID-19.

All should be present for behaviour to occur, thus, it is important to ensure that people have the capability, opportunity and motivation to enact key behaviours during this pandemic in order to curb its spread.

Motivation involves all those brain processes that energize and direct behaviour, not just goals and conscious decision-making. It includes habitual processes, emotional responding, as well as analytical decision-making.

Stress affects these motivation processes, as people who are stressed are less motivated to behave in the expected or prescribed manner. When threatened with stress, people sometimes simply give up and withdraw from the battle.

Some people routinely respond to stress with fatalism and resignation, passively accepting setbacks that might have been dealt with effectively, this is known as learned helplessness syndrome.

Human behaviour is a key enabler to preventing infection, mental health and its related fields of study are crucial in reducing the spread of COVID-19 as well as helping those who have been infected by the disease and family members who lost their loved ones.

People infected with or suspected of being infected with COVID-19 may experience extreme emotional and behavioural reactions. Unmanaged, these symptoms may evolve into mental health disorders.

Prevention is better than cure. Let's acknowledge mental health and help ensure the population's wellbeing in its full sense.

 Kelin Zvomuya is a final year psychology student at the University of Zimbabwe

Noreen Kudzanai Wini Dari is a community psychologist and a member of the Zimbabwe Psychological Association. She is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the department of psychology.