The “mind” behind the “mask”: Assessing mental states and creating therapeutic alliance amidst COVID-19

Abstract

Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre-including this research content-immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

Are masks impacting psychiatric inpatients’ treatment?

“… Metha et al. (2020) suggested that clinicians use their eyes, eyebrows, hand gestures, and appropriate body postures to facilitate accurate comprehension among patients.…”

“…(2020) suggested that clinicians use their eyes, eyebrows, hand gestures, and appropriate body postures to facilitate accurate comprehension among patients. Research also advised that providing training to clinicians on the correct usage of intonation and prosody to speak clearly through a mask can significantly help build rapport ( Mehta et al., 2020 ). Pamungkasih et al.…”

I see how you feel: facial expressions’ recognition and distancing in the time of COVID-19

“…This study also highlights the impact of the pandemic on anxiety and fear experienced by participants. Future studies are needed to investigate the social and emotional costs of wearing sanitary masks (e.g., for teacher-student and clinician-patient communication as well as for individuals that are hearing-impaired) 16,56 and how bodily postures can compensate for the lack of visible facial features. Follow-up studies are needed in order to monitor the fear and anxiety indicators taking into account potential clinical costs and social implications.…”

Suicide research and prevention during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…The COVID‐19 pandemic affected psychiatric care including suicide prevention. Empathic communication is the cornerstone for an effective psychiatric evaluation and treatment 7 . Nowadays, psychiatric patients and psychiatrists are required to wear masks during in‐person visits.…”