Impact of Human Disasters and Covid-19 Pandemic on Mental Health: Potential of Digital Psychiatry

Abstract

Deep emotional traumas in societies overwhelmed by large-scale human disasters, like, global pandemic diseases, natural disasters, man-made tragedies, war conflicts, social crises, etc., can cause massive stress-related disorders. Motivated by the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, the article provides an overview of scientific evidence regarding adverse impact of diverse human disasters on mental health in afflicted groups and societies. Following this broader context, psychosocial impact of COVID-19 as a specific global human disaster is presented, with an emphasis on disturbing mental health aspects of the ongoing pandemic. Limited resources of mental health services in a number of countries around the world are illustrated, which will be further stretched by the forthcoming increase in demand for mental health services due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health challenges are particularly important for the Republic of Croatia in the current situation, due to disturbing stress of the 2020 Zagreb earthquake and the high pre-pandemic prevalence of chronic Homeland-War-related posttraumatic stress disorders. Comprehensive approach based on digital psychiatry is proposed to address the lack of access to psychiatric services, which includes artificial intelligence, telepsychiatry and an array of new technologies, like internet-based computer-aided mental health tools and services. These tools and means should be utilized as an important part of the whole package of measures to mitigate negative mental health effects of the global coronavirus pandemic. Our scientific and engineering experiences in the design and development of digital tools and means in mitigation of stress-related disorders and assessment of stress resilience are presented. Croatian initiative on enhancement of interdisciplinary research of psychiatrists, psychologists and computer scientists on the national and EU level is important in addressing pressing mental health concerns related to the ongoing pandemic and similar human disasters.

Analysis of Self-Concept in Adolescents before and during COVID-19 Lockdown: Differences by Gender and Sports Activity

“…Furthermore, COVID-19 globally jeopardises people's mental health since it increases stress, anxiety, depression and negative social behaviour [9][10][11]. Therefore, adolescents are in danger of experiencing negative consequences for both mental and physical health as a result of pandemics and disasters [2,12].…”

“…Hence, this construct should be considered in youths and their relatives who usually experience post-traumatic symptoms under pandemic or emergency situations [9,11,25], which may trigger negative mental health consequences, disruptive behaviour and a low self-concept [26][27][28][29]. As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, an appeal has been issued to the scientific community to pay attention to and analyse the physical, mental and emotional conditions as well as people's pro-social behaviour [13,30,31].…”

Pandemias: Impactos na sociedade

“…Vale ressaltar que na pandemia do COVID-19 aspectos como saúde mental, privação de atividades físicas (ou menor encorajamento para tal, prevalecendo o sedentarismo), qualidade do sono (afetada pelo estresse, insegurança econômica e pela própria doença) e alimentação (com muitos adotando alimentação entregue por aplicativos) são um dos mais afetados, e que pode afetar a saúde física incluindo a alteração no sistema imune (Cosic et al, 2020). E o sistema imune afetado pode contribuir para uma piora no quadro da endometriose (Liu, 2016).…”

Telepsychiatry as a mental health intervention for garment workers in Bangladesh: A ‘Need of Hour’ during COVID-19?

“…Studies have emphasized on the need for telepsychiatry in place during this crisis period 7 . A recent study emphasized adopting digital psychiatry services, such telepsychiatry for the mental health services due to the pandemic 10 . In recent times, telepsychiatry interventions have shown promise for the improvement of healthcare in many countries including low-resource settings.…”