The COVID‐19 pandemic and mental health impacts

“…Governments and policymakers must create awareness about an increased risk of violence during pandemics and highlight the need for people to keep in touch with each other (while observing precautionary measures) and the great importance of reporting any concerns of abuse. It is important to remember that maintaining social connectedness is an important strategy during times of isolation (Usher et al 2020), even more so with family or friends you suspect may be at risk of family violence. In addition, information about services available locally (e.g.…”

“…12 Therefore, in such times of crisis, there exists an emergent need to support mental and psychosocial well-being in target groups during outbreaks to minimize the psychosocial toll. In this context, mental health initiatives focused on (i) educating public and health care workers on how to properly deal with the immense pressure and anxiety, (ii) providing targeted mental health surveillance followed by effective interventions for at-risk populations (e.g., patients with prior mental health diagnosis, the elderly, people in total home confinement), and (iii) proactively establishing mental health programs specifically designed to manage the pandemic's aftermath, have been recently suggested as urgent measures of preventive and early intervention (WHO, 2020b; Galea et al 2020, Usher et al 2020). 3,13,14 The psychosocial needs of at-risk individuals, including those in quarantine and/or home confinement, are suggested to be unique.…”

“…In this context, mental health initiatives focused on (i) educating public and health care workers on how to properly deal with the immense pressure and anxiety, (ii) providing targeted mental health surveillance followed by effective interventions for at-risk populations (e.g., patients with prior mental health diagnosis, the elderly, people in total home confinement), and (iii) proactively establishing mental health programs specifically designed to manage the pandemic's aftermath, have been recently suggested as urgent measures of preventive and early intervention (WHO, 2020b; Galea et al 2020, Usher et al 2020). 3,13,14 The psychosocial needs of at-risk individuals, including those in quarantine and/or home confinement, are suggested to be unique. 14 15 Therefore, to provide scientific data to help characterise the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 crisis, our ECLB-COVID19 research group recently launched a multiple-language and multi-country anonymous survey to assess the effects of home confinement on psychosocial health status and multiple lifestyle behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak (ECLB-COVID19).…”

“…We have become even more reliant on technological advances for business, education, pleasure and other activities. In fact, 93% of Americans report that an outage in internet or cellular service during the outbreak would cause problems in their daily lives (Pew Research Center, 2020). Our ability to remain virtually connected while physically distant has been helpful; however, it is not without an unintended fallout: physical, mental and emotional exhaustion beyond what living through a pandemic is causing.…”