Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health: An Overview.

Kshirsagar, Minal M; Dodamani, Arun S; Dodamani, Girija A; Khobragade, Vrushali R; Deokar, Rahul N

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) pandemic is a major threat to public health affecting the world; it has been identified as originating in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. It is spreading widely and rapidly spread across the globe, causing an outbreak of acute infectious pneumonia. Such global outburst is associated with adverse effects on mental health. Fear, stress, anxiety seem more definitely an outcome of mass quarantine. METHODS Keeping this pandemic situation in mind, existing literature on the COVID-19 crisis relevant to mental health was redeemed via a literature search from PubMed database. Collected published articles were classified according to their overall themes and summarized. RESULTS Preliminary evidence suggests that symptoms of self-reported stress, anxiety and depression are common psychological impact to the pandemic, and may be associated with disrupted sleep. Regional, state, National-international borders have almost been shut down, economies crashed, and billions of people quarantined or isolated at their own homes and quarantine centers. In this situational frame of covid-19, patients, front-line healthcare professionals, geriatric population with existing psychiatric conditions may be encountering further suffering. CONCLUSION COVID-19 will continue to affect mental health and wellbeing intensely; also, mental health serves an important role in battling the epidemic. With the scare of COVID-19 pandemic on the rise, it is time that as psychiatrists should try to integrate the health-care services keeping mental health at prime.