Waves of mental health Demands during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic is playing a significant role in public health policies around the world. Mental health is one. Either in supporting the maintenance of isolation or dealing with demands, which may come from the general population and health professionals. This work presents a compilation of data obtained by clinical psychologists during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. Through searches on social media with #Covid19 and #MentalHealth and the exchange of information on networks of professionals, it was possible to compile and group the main psychological symptoms presented during isolation. Information was clustered according to the period it appeared, in order to guide future situations. Moreover, to prepare a group of clinical psychologists to provide online assistance. Prevention must be the key to deal with the mental health catastrophe that there is to come.

Mental health in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic: a panoramic view of health professionals, affected patients and interpersonal relationships

“…In these situations, the psychological and psychiatric implications secondary to the phenomenon, both at the individual and the collective level, tend to be underestimated and neglected, creating gaps in coping strategies and increasing the burden of associated diseases. Honorato et al (2020) exposes the situation of health professionals as a critical point, as many are emotionally exhausted and have Burnout syndrome; suffering from separation from the family, fear of dying, fear of becoming infected, loss of colleagues, insomnia. explained that during epidemics, the number of people whose mental health is affected tends to be greater than the number of people affected by the infection.…”

“…According to Honorato et al (2020), the pandemic moves in waves around the planet, spreading geographically and it is possible to verify not only the progress from the topographical point of view, but also how it affects emotional health. It started in China and in some Asian countries, such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea, until reaching the United States and France, still in January 2020.…”

“…Still according to Honorato et al (2020), the first wave happens as soon as the population is informed by the local news that the virus has already reached the cities.…”

“…Through Honorato et al (2020), we are led to think about what we can extract from previous experiences, related to wars and another period of pandemic: there will be an increase in the number of cases of anxiety disorder, especially post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).…”

Anxiety in the pandemic: a study about the impacts on mental health during the COVID-19 contagion in Brazil

“…We adopted for this study the concept of "Mental Health Demand Waves", defined as mental health care needs according to the situation in which each country finds itself, with the understanding that psychological aspects are directly linked to public health decisions. 2,3,4 Anxiety can be characterized as a complex set of emotions that has fear as a crucial and dominant component, which is related to other emotions, such as guilt, grief, shame, etc. It involves the anticipation of a fear that announces that something bad could happen (usually exposing a catastrophic view of events, arising from distorted interpretations of reality).…”