How to manage COVID-19-related Mental Health

Aiysha Malik, a Technical Officer at the World Health Organization’s Mental Health and Substance Use Department, said, “It’s really important to think about mental health as part of the public health response to COVID-19."

Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University of Public Health and a population health expert who has focused on the social causes of health, mental health and trauma, also said he does not dismiss the risk of spread of the novel coronavirus, but it is also important to consider unexpected risks associated with the response to the outbreak. “The fact that social isolation is associated with poor mental health is unquestionable,” he explained.

Besides, now, many healthcare workers around the world stretched by demand, Many consultants have headaches and nausea when they deal with stress and emotion, said Yu Lei, a psychological consultant at Daqing Oilfield General Hospital, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, China. "Consultants are easily overly involved and fall into a sense of powerlessness."

There are also times when there is nothing they can do. "You must always return to yourself, be aware of yourself, and distinguish which emotions are yours, which are the patients, and which are your empathy," Lei said. 

In addition, macro-level stress across society could have an undue social burden on specific populations. "There will be medium and long-term consequences on people whose employment is in sectors like retail and transportation," Galea explained. "Adding economic pressures will inevitably result in worse mental health.”

Galea also noted the effects of quarantining on people’s mental health. Galea pointed to a study of the 2003 SARS outbreak of the psychological effects of quarantining on residents in Toronto, which found that a substantial portion of those quarantined displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

If quarantining is necessary, there are steps that can mitigate the effects of being isolated, including:

• Staying connected with your social and family networks via technology

• Keeping your daily routines as much as possible

• Exercising regularly and practicing habits that you enjoy and find relaxing

• Seeking practical, credible information at specific times of the day
• Leaning on technology - using technology to manage mental health, which will likely become more common and necessary as the need to practice “social distancing,” maintaining a physical distance from others to avoid the spread, increases. For example, in China, many cities and universities opened psychological assistance hotlines. According to the head of the Beijing Normal University Epidemic Psychological Support Hotline in an interview, the general public had the most psychological consultations (about 50%), followed by those who were isolated (about 15%), frontline medical staff (about 10%), those were quarantined at home (5%) and other cases (about 20%). 
• Shifting narratives away from number of deaths toward number of recoveries. There often seems to be a dearth of positive stories about coronavirus and those who recover. “We’re not seeing the stories of recovery," said Ken Carswell, Technical Officer, World Health Organization. "We need to shift narratives away from number of deaths toward number of recoveries.” 
• Additionally, the negative effects of stigmatizing language – such as attaching region or ethnicity to the virus or blaming people for transmission – exacerbate the sense of fear at a macro level.

Overall, the common thread among all experts on mental health and COVID-19 is that we need to stay informed by trusted sources. For managing fear in the COVID-19 response is to get facts. Facts minimize fear. There is a risk of an infodemic, in which misinformation spreads.

In addition, a sense of hope instead of fear could allow leaders and everyday citizens to better cooperate with one another – a vital element in defeating this outbreak. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, said.

"We are not at the mercy of coronavirus. The great advantage we have is that the decisions we all make – as governments, businesses, communities, families and individuals – can influence the trajectory of this epidemic."