Cognitive, Behavioral, and Emotional Disorders in Populations Affected by the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

This review enhances the existing literature on the emotional and mental health of COVID-19 patients and affected persons who have spent prolonged time intervals in self-isolation or quarantine. My article cumulates previous research findings on adverse physical and psychological consequences developed from the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout May 2020, I conducted a quantitative literature review of the Web of Science database, with search terms including "psychological anxiety," "emotional distress," "social isolation stress," and "mental health disorders." As I focused on research published exclusively this year, only 104 various types of articles met the eligibility criteria. By removing those whose results were inconclusive, unconfirmed by replication, or too general, and because of space constraints, I selected 49, mainly empirical, sources. The inspected collected findings prove that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in greater degrees of psychological distress in the affected populations. The COVID-19 outbreak may generate emotional distress and anxiety, aggravating preexisting mental health disorders and shaping stress-related disturbances for affected people. Individuals having severe mental illness tend to be hurt emotionally by social problems heightening their vulnerability. Both COVID-19 infected patients and the general affected population may develop severe depressive symptoms. Significant degrees of fear may heighten the damage generated by such a highly infectious disease. The volume of recovered patients may diminish COVID-19-related apprehension and panic. Future research should investigate whether COVID-19-related reduced care provision and prolonged self-isolation and quarantine will have long-term impact on mental and psychological health.

Anxiety levels during a second local COVID-19 pandemic breakout among quarantined people: A cross sectional survey in China

“…However, since many countries are experiencing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, we suggested psychologists to conduct comparative studies about this issue. Future research should investigate whether prolonged quarantine will have long-term impact on mental and psychological health ( Pera A. 2020 ).…”

Alternative Medicine: A Recent Overview

“…Furthermore, acupuncture, relaxation and meditation, and regular exercise may improve sleep quality, sleep onset latency, total sleep time, and insomnia severity [110][111][112]. Lately, high levels of anxiety, fear, depression, panic, emotional outburst and sleep disturbances has been observed in COVID-19 positive patient, particularly from isolation and quarantine events [113]. Some sedatives and antianxiety drugs are used to manage these symptoms however, it may inhibit the respiratory system and worsen the condition [114].…”

Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on LGBT people in Chile

“…Moreover, physical distance, social distance and diverse types of security measures have affected social relationships among people and their perception of empathy toward others ( Saladino et al, 2020 ). In general population, some reviews show evidence of the negative impact of the pandemic on mental health, quality of life and well-being producing: anxiety, depressive symptoms, sleep disorders, and post-traumatic stress ( Gawai et al, 2020 , Pera, 2020 , Salari et al, 2020 , Xiong et al, 2020 , Vindegaard et Eriksen Benros, 2020 ).…”