- Depression
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Hoarding Disorder
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- Anxiety/ Panic Disorders
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Body dysmorphic disorder
- Schizophrenia 
- Borderline Personality Disorder

Mental Disorders Affected By The Covid-19 Pandemic

Due to the large life and routine changes caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, mental health issues are arising and increasingly relevant public health problems that needs to be addressed.

Mental Health and psychological distress Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the stress and the isolation of the pandemic begin to produce negative effects on people's mental well-being, there have been many different efforts to adapt the delivery of mental health care to the demands of COVID-19, 

Mental Health Care and Covid-19

- Being at heightened risk of contracting the disease (elderly, people with compromised immune function, people living in congregate settings)
- Burnout and strain against healthcare workers
- Contracting COVID-19
- Having preexisting medical, psychiatric or substance use condition
- High-risk groups (women, students)
- Job loss and income insecurity
- Poor health
- Social isolation

Mental Health Risk Factors

- Domestic violence and child abuse: Individuals at risk for abuse may have limited opportunities to report or seek help when shelter-in-place requirements demand prolonged cohabitation at home and limit travel outside of the home, more time in the home puts certain people at risk of more abuse
- Increase in self-harm and suicidal ideation
- Need to bolster our mental health system in preparation for the inevitable challenges precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Health systems, both public and private sector, will need to develop mechanisms for refill and delivery of essential medicines, including psychiatric medicines.  
- Online substitutes for daily routines: can be extremely helpful, but not all children have access to technologies that enable remote connectivity.

Mental Health Consequences

Objective: determine if pre-pandemic diurnal cortisol indices can predict the effect of strict social confinement on:
- perceived stress
-  empathy
- attention
- working memory

Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19
Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress:
The Role of Cortisol and Resilience

The pandemic led to the social isolation and other triggers of many students which may have had effects on their mental health. 

The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Students Mental Health

Gillespie-Smith, K., McConachie, D., Ballantyne, C., Auyeung, B., & Goodall, K. (2023). The Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on Psychological Distress in Family Caregivers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disability in the UK. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 53(4), 1573–1587. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05132-3

The Impact of COVID‑19 Restrictions on Psychological Distress
in Family Caregivers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disability
in the UK

Research studying the impact of COVID on caregivers has shown that caregivers need to spend more time on self-care that focuses on social support and social opportunities rather than traditional areas.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Caregivers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

The Covid 19 Pandemic caused distress for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as their families by limiting their access to resources.

How Covid 19 Limited Access to Resources for Individuals and Families with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

- Mental Disorders
- Mental Health and psychological distress
- Mental Health Care
- Mental Health Consequences and physical distancing
- Mental Health Risk Factors
- Students mental health

Columbia University

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Cognitive Impacts
- Creating New Measurements
- Long-term prognosis and psychological impacts
- Mental Health focuses
- Psychosocial impact 
- Strategies to combat the psychological impact of COVID-19
- Substance use issues
- Relationship conflict and sexual behavior

Focuses of the Psychological effects of COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the large life and routine changes caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic,  substance use issues are arising and increasingly relevant public health problems that needs to be addressed.

Substance Use Issues Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 patients have reported mental fatigue and loss of concentration.  Severe cognitive impairment is reported by people with secondary illnesses.  Encephalopathy (damage to brain) is observed after extubation.  This could be because of sedation or mechanical ventilation.  Damage to the brain can occur from bacteria during ventilation. 
 



Cognitive impacts of COVID-19

Many reports show that most patients can return to their roles and recover fully but some survivors will have lasting disability.  Sedation affects recall which is why those patients won't necessarily have a long lasting trauma but patients who are conscious may experience anxiety especially when they are physically disabled or dependent due to the virus.  Risk of depression increases when the patients are separated from their families for a prolonged period of time.  Loss of independence is experience and many have to go through outpatient psychotherapy.

Long-term prognosis and psychological impacts

The impact the pandemic has on the psychological state of the people is something many psychologists are interested to investigate, and as such, new measurements specific to the pandemic is needed

Creating New Measurements for Psychology during COVID-19 Pandemic

- Children

- Domestic caregivers

- Old age

- Marginalized community

- General public

- People who have or had COVID-19

- People with pre-existing mental health disorders

- Health-care workers

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on different sections of society

Mental health focuses (COVID-19)

- Accurate dissemination of health and related information to the public
- Addition of psychologists and psychiatrists to the COVID-19 task force
- Have HCPs take a bigger role in mental health care of patients
- Identification of high-risk groups (psychologically)
- Improved screening of psychiatric morbidities
- Integration of hospital and community resources
- Psycho-education (preventative)
- Psychological interventions and psychosocial support
- Psychological support for frontline workers



Strategies to Combat Psychological Impact of COVID-19

- COVID-19 pandemic causes: disruptions of daily routines, anxiety of the pandemic, lack of physical activity, absence of outside social outlets, lack of access to unperson therapy, and reduced physical contact (e.g. hugging..)
- All may contribute to romantic relationship conflict 
- Previous study showed married couple experienced greater negative impact on mental well-being than unmarried couple during the pandemic 
- Psychological stress impact sexual desire and sexual function; sexual desire and orgasm are known to be supported by a lower-stress environment 
- Life-threatening event and Intense financial stress and economic hardship may lead to relationship conflict


Romantic Relationship Conflict Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Background stress and Changes in Intimate and Sexual Behaviors 


- Psychosocial impact on general public
- Psychosocial impact on healthcare workers
- Psychosocial burden of quarantine and isolation

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