Mental Health

In Relation to COVID-19 infection

Presenter: Kanchan Dahal (MD, Psychiatry & Mental Health)
Common Psychological Symptoms associated
with COVID-19 (Prevalence)
 Intrusion (66 %)
 Avoidance (59%)
 Hyper-vigilance (67%)
 Depression (67%)
 Anxiety (85 %)
 Stress (60 %)

Source: Article number: 170 (2021),

Comparison of psychological symptoms
between infected and non-infected COVID-19
health care workers, BMJ Psychiatry
 Many people infected with COVID-19 have long-
term mental health symptoms
 Study was published in the journal, Lancet
Psychiatry. It is the largest study of its kind,
involving the medical records of more than
200,000 COVID-19 patients.
 Common diagnosis was anxiety found in 17%;
followed by depression in 14 %.
 Research also found that 44 % had risk of
developing psychiatric and neurological
problems further.
Methods adopted to Prevent Spread
of COVID-19
 Lockdowns
 Self-isolation
 Social-distancing
 Quarantine
Effects due to the restrictive
measures
 Physical
 Mental
 Spiritual.
 Social
 Disruption in the normal bereavement

process.
 Economic recession
 financial pressure on previously earner.
 increase of unhealthy conflict within family
and in circle.
 family breakdown.
 Gender based violence.
Challenges
 Presence of variants.
 Presence of elusive symptoms.
 Absence of adequate resources and

management strategies.
Preparation
 Against current mental health issues.
 Mental Health threats associated with future.
International Experiences
 Africa
 The pandemic has affected all South Africans in various ways, the
poor have been most affected due to structural inequality, poverty,
unemployment, and lack of access to quality health care and other
services.
 Public mental health has also been negatively affected by the
pandemic, and this comes against a backdrop of an ailing mental
health care system.
 argue that being in mental health profession and behavioral
science, working as part of a multidisciplinary team, ought to play a
significant role in addressing the mental health ramifications of the
pandemic.
 Source: Mental health and COVID-19 in South Africa; Siphelele
Nguse and Douglas Wassenaar, South African Journal of
Psychology
 Italy
 COVID-19 pandemic has crosses every health care area (from primary

care to specialist ones)

 use of smart working allows important technological innovations, but it

must be accompanied by a review of hospital and residential programs

and locations.
 economic investments for mental health (a crucial area for a full

recovery of the society); specific funds are needed in mental health

professionals e.g, psychologists), skills, and innovation of locations and
technology, such as the conversion of psychiatric wards to community
services that carefully must consider the patient experience and
clinician’s point of view.
Source:The COVID-19 Pandemic and Italian Public Mental Health Services:
Experience and Future Directions, Lorenzo Pelizza, MD, PhD and
Simona Pupo, MD, Journal of Patient Experience 2020, Vol. 7(5) 642-644
Influences on
 Individuals.
 Students.
 Minors.
 Girls/Women of different ages and

conditions.
 Elderly.
 With chronic illnesses.
What can be done
1. Existential Humanistic Therapy
- often is neglected with trauma and disaster relief work,
despite its relevancy and important
contributions.
- approach that values genuineness, empathy, and
presence.
- existential–humanistic therapy has much to
offer, including consideration of existential guilt,
existential shattering, existential anxiety, and existential
perspectives on self-care
- Short term techniques and long term strategies could
be incorporated.
2. Art Therapy
 Art has shown that it can change, renew, and revalue the existing order.
 If art cannot physically eliminate the struggle of our lives, it can give significance

and new meaning and a sense of active participation in the life process.
 Social distancing is empowering in theory, it can also feel disempowering as a

psychological reality due to the loneliness, restlessness, and panic that arises as the
days slog slowly and uncertainly.
 The expressive arts provide a supplementary, empowering antidote to this crisis of

health.
 Art is available for all people to participate in as a tried-and-true “vaccine” of sorts,

working its therapeutic magic to protect the physical, social, and mental health of
the human species as we struggle together to confront COVID-19 with
simultaneous distance and solidarity.
 act of viewing, making, and sharing music, paintings, graphic art, cinema, and

digital videos can serve as a therapeutic vehicle for empowerment, solidarity, and
collective action as most human beings strive to adopt practices of extreme social
distancing as the recommended community mitigation strategy to help save lives
before a vaccine is developed.
3. Psychoanalysis
- To find existing ego strength of different
layers of individuals.
 To find situation self blame and guilt in

individuals and professionals.

 The purpose may be to find meaning of their

own emotional and psychic responses amid

the realities in the field may help to decrease
the damaging effects of moral injury.
4. Mindfulness
- cultivating moment-to-moment awareness
with open , non-reactive, non-judgmental
attention.
5. Institutional Trust
 News/media
 Police
 National government
 Healthcare System

perceived insecurity in employment and

housing, worsening finances, and difficulty
paying for basic necessities are significantly
related to mental distress.
Development of Slogan
 Standing Together at a Distance, would it
create more effectiveness ?
Concept of Co-ordinated
Communication Ecology
 Interpersonal, organizational, and mediated
communication collectively makes
Communication Ecology.
 Explore appropriate communication ecology

units which can be used to foster individual

and collective coping in current COVID -19
crisis.
Listening Skill