Understanding the Psychological Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Society

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Impact on Mental Health
Interventions
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The Coronavirus disease outbreak has exposed people across the globe to government-enacted public health measures that conflict with their daily plans. Some of the measures enforced by governments include a curfew, quarantine, closure of businesses and schools, and cessation of movement. Over time, such measures have resulted in a broad scope of psychological problems that encompass depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, fear, sentiments of confusion, drug use, and anger (Giallonardo et al., 2020). Devastating sentiments of boredom, fury, isolation, frustration, job loss, increased cost of care, and loneliness is associated with poor mental health. In the post-isolation or quarantine period, the loss of employment attributable to the deteriorating economy worsened by stigma regarding the disease has increased the negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society hence raising the probability of suffering mental health problems.

Impact on Mental Health

The international community is grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting consequences. The pandemic is also going to influence different facets of life, for instance, businesses, the agricultural sector, economy, international market, and medical care to mention a few. Currently, the focus of nations and international agencies such as the World Health Organization is on the management and alleviation of the effects of the pandemic by enhanced identification, testing, treatment of infected individuals, and development of vaccines and medication. Nevertheless, regardless of the endeavors to overcome the effects of the pandemic, there is still uncertainty concerning the course that the disease will embark on in the future. The World Health Organization has expressed great concern regarding the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to ensuring psychosocial consequences (Zhou et al., 2020). New measures such as quarantine and self-isolation coupled with the influence of lockdowns in different nations across the globe have resulted in a rise in issues of family violence with, mainly women and children, having no means of escape from abusers.

Akin to other pandemics that happened in the past, the outbreak of Coronavirus disease has led to deep-seated alterations in the family, over and above other social relations. For example, the irresistible requirement to limit physical contact, remain at home and wear a mask have a possibility of causing loss of intimacy and breakdown of social networks hence exacerbating psychological and physical isolation. Attributable to increased mental health problems associated with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and psychological problems such as headaches related to both prolonged wearing of masks and excessive financial burden, depression, and lack of sleep have become common. Variations in usual duties and habits generate increased stress for all members of the family, encompassing children who have stopped going to school, freely playing with their friends, and visiting their relatives as they did previously (Kumar & Nayar, 2020). Additionally, parents are struggling to meet the needs of the family while also trying to make their children understand the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects devoid of intensifying their fears.

For parents who are also caregivers, the conflict between working as health professionals while attending to all patients, even the ones with Coronavirus disease, and infected members of their families pose tremendous challenges. Such conflicts have a likelihood of leading to sentiments of fear, anxiety, and guilt. In this case, such parents have chosen to stay far from their families most of the time, which weakens the family bond (Giallonardo et al., 2020). With parents not offering proper watch and guidance to their children who have no schoolwork or other duties to keep them busy, most of them have resorted to the internet using technological devices such as mobile phones and computers, where they come across pornographic videos or experience cyberbullying. Besides negatively affecting children and parents psychologically, such practices are likely to result in an upsurge of sexual immorality, mainly among teenagers, and cause moral decadence in societies around the world.

Patients under public health protocols attributable to Coronavirus-related complications experience mental health problems emanating from the need to comply with stringent measures, financial problems, and arising psychological effects. The subsequent disruption of family ties and other intimate bonds arising from the fear of infecting oneself and others, in addition to avoidance practices during and after isolation have been matters of great concern. Additionally, public health measures that strongly challenge long-established traditions, for example, about how and the time when burials will be undertaken have implications on the psychological effects suffered by close friends and relatives of the deceased. The fear of social stigma for the people infected with the Coronavirus disease and their family members distresses them and could lead to the denial of early signs. There is a need to realize that timely diagnosis is crucial for the management of Coronavirus disease and effective treatment of arising conditions such as pneumonia (Kumar & Nayar, 2020). The way people value interventions and the psychological effects evoked by coercive measures have exacerbated mental health problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The degree to which measures being implemented to counter the spread of Coronavirus disease will succeed remains an underlying issue that will be evident over time. Nevertheless, public health measures may fail if people do not abide by them. Although it is possible to formally approve the set measures, the impact of such practices as police brutality on the physical and psychological health of the victims cannot be underestimated. As has been the case with the COVID-19 pandemic, people may find it hard to conform to laid down protocols for insufficient understanding and awareness of what the set guidelines mean and their benefit, particularly if they contradict traditions, for example, shaking of hands, being close to and taking care of the sick, and burial ceremonies indicating final respect for the dead. To ensure that the set measures succeed devoid of causing psychological problems, health professionals should give clear information that will make people understand their significance (Giallonardo et al., 2020). Moreover, people require having their basic needs satisfied, over and above regular and precise information, so that the measures implemented realize the utmost benefits.

As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps on spreading fast internationally, it is having an incredible impact on the mental health of people, particularly the disadvantaged in communities who experience financial problems. Many people in developing nations face serious mental health issues attributable to their poorly equipped medical facilities (Kumar & Nayar, 2020). A surge in the number of people who have psychological problems has been overlooked by the press despite the fear of an uncertain future, loss of jobs, and stigmatization of COVID-19 patients and their family members worsening the mental illness crises. Moreover, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has a likelihood of existing for a long time, which necessitates a pressing need to implement suitable interventions.

Some of the issues arising across the globe include inexact prognoses for Coronavirus disease, imminent serious deficiency of resources for testing, treatment, and for the protection of responders and medical professionals from infection, and enactment of unfamiliar and taxing measures that impinge on individual freedom. Such issues, in addition to huge monetary losses, contradictory guidance from the government, and different agencies are some of the main stressors that undeniably result in psychological problems and augmented risk for mental illness linked to the COVID-19 pandemic (Galea et al., 2020). Health professionals play a vital role in tackling the underlying psychological effects as part of the response to the pandemic.

As a public health emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected people’s sense of safety, health, personal well-being (such as confusion and fear), and the welfare of communities (attributable to financial losses, increasing monetary burden, school and business closures, insufficient resources for health services, and scarce distribution of basic commodities). Such effects might result in a broad scope of psychological responses that encompass distress and psychiatric problems, unhealthy conduct (for example, substance use and drug abuse), and nonconformity with public health guidelines that include vaccination and confinement at home or in an isolation center). Mental health research has identified that psychological problems are ubiquitous in populations experiencing a similar issue, which has been echoed in communities experiencing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Galea et al., 2020). People who have contracted the disease, their close friends, and family members are the ones facing severe effects.

Some societies are more susceptible to the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic than others. The most vulnerable people encompass relatives and friends of the persons who have earlier contracted Coronavirus disease, the aged, individuals who have a compromised immune response, and those residing in or obtaining medical care in congregated environments. People who have preexisting health, psychiatric, and drug use problems are at high risk for serious psychosocial effects (Giallonardo et al., 2020). Health professionals are also particularly susceptible to psychological distress related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic attributable to the risk of exposure, the possibility of infecting their family members, gradual scarcity of personal protective equipment, and prolonged work hours. Health care providers are also facing unmanageable workload because of an increased level of COVID-19 infection that has even affected their colleagues thus decreasing manpower and participation in psychologically and morally fraught resource-allotment choices, which translate to an augmented possibility of mental illness.

A study on psychological abnormalities in samples of individuals who are in quarantine facilities, as well as health professionals could be instructive. Que et al. (2020) established numerous psychological problems, encompassing distress, fear, insomnia, irritability, monotony, frustration, stigmatization, and confusion linked to quarantine and isolation, with most of them persisting even after such individuals are allowed to freely interact with the family members and friends. Some common stressors encompass an increased period of isolation, insufficiency of necessities, augmented cost of health care and medications, and ensuing joblessness. Such stressors in conjunction with the impact of lockdowns, disparities in stay-at-home directives by different authorities, and conflicting information from the public health sector have a high likelihood of intensifying mental illness, which necessities effective interventions to address the problem.

With already weak healthcare systems in developing countries and the shortage of medical personnel and mental health specialists, the COVID-19 pandemic is necessitating governments to seek strategic ways of supporting the sector. When challenges in people’s lives swell because of the effects of pandemics, it becomes crucial for the government to support establishing effective mental health care for the population (Galea et al., 2020). There is a pressing need to prioritize mental health services and facilities to enable medical professionals to tackle the arising problems.

Interventions

Opportunities to evaluate psychosocial needs and provide support during interaction with patients in health facilities are increasingly being hindered by home confinement. Moreover, some people have the fear of seeking medical attention at whatever cost while health professionals who do not have the necessary personal protective equipment are avoiding patients as their way of preventing COVID-19 infection. Therefore, psychosocial services should be increasingly provided through the approach of telemedicine (Zhou et al., 2020). Psychosocial evaluation and monitoring should encompass inquiries about COVID-19-associated stressors (for example, contact with infected people, sick members of the family, the death of a loved one, and self-isolation) and psychosocial effects that include depression, family violence, and sleeplessness. Such queries should also include secondary problems such as economic losses and signals of susceptibility, for instance, preexisting conditions. Depending on the degree of the problem, some patients may require being referred for advanced mental health care while others might benefit from supportive measures established to facilitate people’s well-being and coping, which encompass cognitive-behavioral techniques and psychoeducation. The emergence of suicidal ideations might necessitate instant consultation with mental health experts or psychiatric hospitalization.

If there are only mild psychosocial effects, most of the problems being faced by patients, their family members, and the community could be suitably addressed by the provision of data concerning effective stress management. Health professionals should increase the awareness of recommended activities for stress management and coping that include structuring practices and upholding routines (Giallonardo et al., 2020). When necessary, health care providers should connect patients to mental and social health services. Attributable to some media reports and news being psychologically disturbing, patients’ contact with COVID-19-related information should be checked and limited. To avoid parents undermining the impact of the pandemic on their children, there is a need for health professionals to encourage open discussions and sufficient time to interact with each child as a way of assessing and addressing underlying problems.

The government should offer the necessary support and equipment to prevent health professionals from suffering mental illness caused by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, sufficient funding should be given to the ministry of health to enable the purchase of adequate personal protective equipment and other medical supplies, hiring of more medical experts to minimize workload, and financing research practices to possibly establish an effective vaccine for the Coronavirus disease (Zhou et al., 2020). The ministry of health should provide the assistance needed to tackle stress on caregivers by evaluating the effects of the pandemic, variations of schedules and tasks, adjusting anticipations, and establishment of successful mechanisms for the provision of required psychosocial support.

Since many COVID-19 positive cases will be established and treated in health facilities by caregivers who have minimal or no mental health training, other professionals should be involved to provide psychosocial treatment when necessary. Ideally, the incorporation of mental health deliberations into COVID-19 care should be handled at the health facility level through national and local planning with approaches for the identification, referral, and treatment of serious psychosocial problems being set up while enhancing the ability to consult with professionals (Kumar & Nayar, 2020). Education and training concerning psychosocial problems should be offered to all health care providers, first responders, and heads of all units in a hospital.

Mental wellness and emergency response groups should operate jointly to establish, develop, and distribute evidence-based information associated with psychological health problems. Shared operations involving different departments should be facilitated to meet the requirements of special populations and alleviate some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (Galea et al., 2020). Risk-mitigation endeavors should envisage the challenges of arising concerns that include preventive guidelines. The ministry of health should carefully evaluate the suitability and accessibility of vaccines and medications, in addition to necessary evidence-based practices pertinent to the COVID-19 pandemic while tackling a broad scope of psychosocial problems.

Conclusion

The Coronavirus disease outbreak has exposed citizens in many countries around the world to government-endorsed public health policies that conflict with their daily plans. Overwhelming sentiments of boredom, fury, loneliness, frustration, job loss, increased cost of care, and seclusion is linked to poor mental health. In the period after isolation or quarantine, the loss of jobs attributable to the worsening economy exacerbated by stigma concerning the disease has increased adverse psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities hence raising the likelihood of suffering mental health problems. Prevention endeavors that include screening for mental illness, enhanced psychoeducation, and psychosocial support should center on the people who are at an increased risk for severe emotional problems.

References

Galea, S., Merchant, R. M., & Lurie, N. (2020). The mental health consequences of COVID-19 and physical distancing: The need for prevention and early intervention. JAMA Internal Medicine, 180(6), 817-818. Web.

Giallonardo, V., Sampogna, G., Del Vecchio, V., Luciano, M., Albert, U., Carmassi, C., Carrà, G., Cirulli, F., Dell’Osso, B., Nanni, M., & Pompili, M. (2020). The impact of quarantine and physical distancing following COVID-19 on mental health: Study protocol of a multicentric Italian population trial. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11(533), 1-10. Web.

Kumar, A., & Nayar, K. R. (2020). COVID 19 and its mental health consequences. Journal of Mental Health, 1(1), 1-12. Web.

Que, J., Le Shi, J. D., Liu, J., Zhang, L., Wu, S., Gong, Y., Huang, W., Yuan, K., Yan, W., Sun, Y., & Ran, M. (2020). Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers: A cross-sectional study in China. General Psychiatry, 33(3), 1-12. Web.

Zhou, X., Snoswell, C. L., Harding, L. E., Bambling, M., Edirippulige, S., Bai, X., & Smith, A. C. (2020). The role of telehealth in reducing the mental health burden from COVID-19. Telemedicine and E-Health, 26(4), 377-379. Web.

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