Novel Corona Virus Disease originating from China has rapidly crossed borders, infecting people throughout the whole world. This phenomenon has led to a massive public reaction; the media has been reporting continuously across borders to keep all informed about the pandemic situation. All these things are creating a lot of concern for people leading to heightened levels of anxiety. Pandemics can lead to heightened levels of stress; Anxiety is a common response to any stressful situation. This study attempted to assess the knowledge, attitude, anxiety experience, and perceived mental healthcare need among adult Indian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 662 responses were received.The responders had a moderate level of knowledge about the COVID-19 infection and adequate knowledge about its preventive aspects. The attitude towards COVID-19 showed peoples' willingness to follow government guidelines on quarantine and social distancing. The anxiety levels identified in the study were high. More than 80 % of the people were preoccupied with the thoughts of COVID-19 and 72 % reported the need to use gloves, and sanitizers. In this study, sleep difficulties, paranoia about acquiring COVID-19 infection and distress related social media were reported in 12.5 %, 37.8 %, and 36.4 % participants respectively. The perceived mental healthcare need was seen in more than 80 % of participants. There is a need to intensify the awareness and address the mental health issues of people during this COVID-19 pandemic.

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Table 1 Distribution of respondents by their background characteristics (n=120) Variables Frequency Percentage

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 is a global challenge which resulted in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has also adversely affected the economy and social integrity. There is rising concern about the mental health challenges of the general population, COVID-19-infected patients, close contacts, elderly, children and health professionals. This chapter focusses on various mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media. A high proportion of reports have been found from the developed countries. There is a need for further studies to explore the issue as well as to prevent the episodes.

Adolescence, derived from the Latin word “adolescere” meaning “to grow up” is a critical developmental period. During adolescence, major biological as well as psychological developments take place. Development of sexuality is an important bio-psycho-social development, which takes an adult shape during this period. During adolescence, an individual's thought, perception as well as response gets colored sexually. Puberty is an important landmark of sexuality development that occurs in the adolescence. The myriad of changes that occurs in adolescents puts them under enormous stress, which may have adverse physical, as well as psychological consequences. Understanding adolescent sexuality has important clinical, legal, social, cultural, as well as educational implications.

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Cognitive deficits are one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia that evolve during the course of schizophrenia, after being originated even before the onset of illness. Existing pharmacological and biological treatment modalities fall short to meet the needs to improve the cognitive symptoms; hence, various cognitive remediation strategies have been adopted to address these deficits. Research evidences suggest that cognitive remediation measures improve the functioning, limit disability bettering the quality of life. The functional outcomes of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia are resultant of neurobiological changes in specific brain areas. Recent years witnessed significant innovations in cognitive remediation strategies in schizophrenia. This comprehensive review highlights the biological correlates of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and the remedial measures with evidence base.