Abstract:Introduction: The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus forced the adoption of several measures for individual and collective protection measures, including isolation, which interrupted direct social contact and started to draw the attention of researchers due to its potential risk of damage to people’s mental health, notably for the most sensitive groups, such as adolescents.
Aim: This article presents some emotional repercussions observed in groups of adolescents, after six months of social isolatio… Show more
Social isolation (SI) exerts a harmful effect on brain plasticity even in healthy animals and humans. We reported some new connections between aggressive behavior and SI, and new mechanisms of SI damaging effect on experimental rodents in previous studies.
SARS-CoV-2 exhibits neurotropism through its affinity for the ACE2 receptor in endothelial cells found in the brain. The neurotropism in the disease caused by the new coronavirus accords with a wide spectrum of neurological, psychiatric and psychological symptoms. It had been reported that up to almost 43 % of SARS survivors developed long-lasting psychiatric morbidity that persisted at 4 years follow up with main diagnoses in diminishing order of representation: posttraumatic stress disorders, depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Full assessment of the long-term risk of neurological and psychological complications will be greatly needed once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Based on current data and the reported experience with SARS-CoV we hypothesize that the neurobehavioral sequelae of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 will necessitate close interaction between emergency medicine and psychological support. The role of social support for the restoration of post-Covid neuropsychological damage is essential because the human being is not only a biological object but also a social subject who needs support from other humans.
The article explores how the emergence of the coronavirus in 2020 affected the youth. Health communication and behaviour change communication theories are used to explain how the youth need to cognitively alter their mindsets about the seriousness of this virus. Health messages were communicated from the government (senders) to the youth (receivers) in relation to precautionary measures that could be taken to protect oneself from infection. Social distancing, sanitising and wearing of a mask were precautions communicated to the youth to inform them via health promotional campaigns. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) explains how youth (in the context of this article) need to understand and implement persuasive health communication for protection against COVID-19. The context of this article explains how the youth, as per the Precaution Adaption Process Model (PAMP), still engaged in risky behaviour and attended the Matric Rage Festival in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) during the second wave of the virus infection in South Africa (SA). The youth paid little heed to the health messages and partook in this “super-spreader” event. A qualitative research paradigm was used to purposively select news reports that were available in the public domain. A thematic analysis was used to interpret the news reports. Findings indicated that “super-spreader” events increase the risk of infection, which implies that protocols need to be adhered to as per government regulations.
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