Mental Health during Covid-19 Pandemic

Mental Health during Covid-19 Pandemic
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Mental Health during Covid-19 Pandemic
Wuhan City, China, the year is 2019, the month of December, and the first human case of SARS-CoV-2, subsequently named COVID-19, is reported. Two and a half years have passed since the outbreak of the virus, but the experience of 2020 still feels alien. Most restrictions have been lifted worldwide, and the status quo has been restored. It almost feels like a blip in this generation's existence to be studied in history books. However, a deeper look at the situation shows that the event was more than a blip. The magnitude of its impact was enough to change the trajectory of countries, families, and individual lives. This essay will discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic affected people's mental health.
Literature Matrix

Authors & Year

Title, type, and purpose of
the study

Sample (who were the
participants, and how many)

Implications of results
on practice

Further research required – what
else needs to be understood?

1

NinaVindegaardMichael EriksenBenros ; 2020

Systematic Review: listed
above

Two patients with preexisting psychiatric disorders,
20 medical health care workers
19 people from the general public

Increased level of obsessive-compulsive disorder among the medical staff.

The relationship between infections and a higher risk of mood disorders

1A

Mohammad Mojammel, Hussain Raihan

Systematic Review: that you
find on LTU library

Adult Population aged 18 and above.

Confirma that COVID-19 is an objective risk for mental distress

More emphasis on mental health just like physical health.

2

Christian Rauschenberg; Anita Schick; Dipl-Psych; Dusan Hirjak Andreas Seidler; Isabell Paetzold; Christian Apfelbacher; Dr sc hum; Steffi G Riedel-Heller; Ulrich Reininghaus; Dipl-Psych

Intervention Study

815 Peer reviewed systematic reviews

Guarantees safety, guidance, satisfaction, acceptance, and effectiveness of eHealth interventions

Data on Improvement of the quality of the process, cost-effectiveness, and long-term effect of mental health interventions

3

A.S.Sameer;
Khan; S.Nissarc; M.Z.Banday

Cross-section Study

Four hundred eighteen responses from 18-year-olds.

Informs on the people vulnerable to mental disorders and coping strategies among male and female participants

The reasons why people chose the coping strategies they did during quarantine.

4

Ru Jia;
Kieran Ayling; Trudie Chalder; Adam Massey; Elizabeth Broadbent; Carol Coupland; Kavita Vedhara

Cohort Study: listed above

3097 adults aged ≥18 years

More attention to younger people, women, and individuals who
identified as being in recognized COVID-19 risk groups

Effective interventions for curbing loneliness and positive mood boosters for anxious and depressed patients.

5

Matthew J. Savage; Philip J. Hennis; Daniele Magistro; James Donaldson; Laura C. Healy; Ruth M. James

Longitudinal Study

Nine hundred forty-six university students from East Midlands, U.K.

Relationship between sedentary behavior and an increase in perceived stress

Long-term strategies will help individuals, especially students cope with stressful situations for long periods.

Literature Reflection
Security is a concept that each individual understands and acknowledges is vital for survival. A secure environment is essential in building trust and facilitating healthy communication from infancy. The same idea morphs into patriotism, and the responsibility of guaranteeing safety falls on the government. Currently, the world's military expenditure has passed $2 trillion for the first time in history CITATION SIP22 \l 1033 (SIPRI, 2022). The U.S., Russia, Great Britain, China, and India are among the top spenders on military emphasizing their commitment to safe territories. However, 2020 presented a different adversary to what world governments have spent billions preparing for. Instead of military invasions and coups, economies and their people were crippled by a virus with a genome size of 29,811 nucleotides long.
It is fair to say that no government was prepared for the carnage COVID-19 would wreak on the global population. Between blaming China for the pandemic and trying to understand the virus, countries were preparing mass burials, with some countries like Brazil recording over 1000 deaths in a day. Instead of the military, hospitals and healthcare professionals were the first in line to provide security against the virus. By January 20, 2021: 52,000 NHS were reported to be sick, with over 850 healthcare workers thought to have died between March and December 2020. Themes such as high workload, insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), social stigma, psychological fatigue, few incentives, and poor management resonate with every healthcare professional around the globe (Razu, et al., 2021). The U.K. hs recorded 22,0388,344 confirmed cases and 174,912 deaths as of 2020.
Anxiety is attributed to excessive and intense worry about everyday situations. Depending on the intensity, individuals can experience feelings of fear or an escalation to terror in others. It is an uncomfortable situation that can render an individual incapable of performing mundane tasks. Change is a phenomenon that can cause anxiety, mainly if the outcome is not determined CITATION Men22 \l 1033 (MentaHealthUK, 2022). Social distancing and wearing masks in public were the first changes mandated on the general public due to the virus spreading. While it's a standard procedure in curbing transmutable infections, the isolations represent an individual's lack of control. The lockdowns presented the perfect experiment to study human psychology, and unsurprisingly, the following months presented mixed results.
Decisions imposed on people are likely to get rejected, especially if it is sudden and doesn't allow for the preparation of the consequences. According to YouGov data, Britons wearing masks in public was 38% compared to 88% of people in Spain and 83% in Italy CITATION Vic20 \l 1033 (McKeever, 2020). Wearing a mask was finally made mandatory in the U.K. on July 24; however, the hesitance represents a psychological phenomenon witnessed across the globe. At the time, the U.K. recorded 243 deaths of people whose death certificates mentioned COVID-19 as one of the causes CITATION Gov22 \l 1033 (Govt.UK, 2022). A portion of the public cited their first amendment rights to why wearing a mask should remain a choice in the US. Other individuals abided by the letter's regulations, while others practice some mandates while ignoring others, such as wearing a mask halfway. Humans are creatures of habit; however, change forces an individual into consciousness. Creating or breaking routines is an uncomfortable undertaking; therefore, ind...