{"id":1751,"date":"2020-04-17T19:06:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/coronavirus-to-have-profound-impact-on-mental-health-experts\/"},"modified":"2020-04-17T19:06:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:06:29","slug":"coronavirus-to-have-profound-impact-on-mental-health-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/?p=1751","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus to have ‘profound’ impact on mental health: experts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Coronavirus<\/div>\n
Experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a “profound and pervasive impact” on global mental health as billions struggle to cope with isolated living and anxiety spikes.<\/div>\n
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In a paper published in Lancet Psychiatry, a panel of 24 specialists call for more funding for research into the impacts COVID-19 may have on society’s mental well-being.<\/p>\n

Two accompanying surveys of the British public showed that most people questioned had experienced heightened anxiety and fear of becoming mentally unwell since the pandemic struck.<\/p>\n

“We are all dealing with unprecedented uncertainty and major changes to the way we live our lives as a result of coronavirus,” said lead author Emily Holmes from Uppsala University’s department of psychology.<\/p>\n

“Our surveys show these changes are already having a considerable impact on our mental health.”<\/p>\n

The authors called for real-time monitoring of anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide across the world, as well as the creation of treatment programmes that can be accessed remotely.<\/p>\n

“This needs to be on a bigger scale than we have ever seen previously, and must be coordinated, targeted and comprehensive,” said Matthew Hotopf, from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.<\/p>\n

“Above all, we want to stress that all new interventions must be informed by top notch research to make sure they work.”<\/p>\n

Studies into the mental health impact of previous disease outbreaks, such as the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s, showed a clear increase in suicide rates and the number of health care workers who experience emotional distress.<\/p>\n

But the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic is unprecedented, with billions of people forced to isolate at home and no end in sight even after social distancing measures are eased.<\/p>\n

‘Perfect mental health storm’<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The surveys, conducted among more than 3,000 people in Britain, showed a wide range of fears arising from the pandemic.<\/p>\n

These include increased anxiety, the effects of social isolation, the fear of becoming mentally unwell and accessing care if needed.<\/p>\n

The experts cautioned that these symptoms were likely to continue well in to the future, even after the current round of lockdowns are eased.<\/p>\n

The authors called for government funding to establish specialised working groups comprised of people with experience of mental health impacts to ensure research and treatment are prioritised.<\/p>\n

“Increased social isolation, loneliness, health anxiety, stress and an economic downturn are a perfect storm to harm people’s mental health and wellbeing,” said Rory O’Connor, professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

He said that a lack of intervention risked an explosion of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, as well as a rise in alcohol and drug addiction.<\/p>\n

“The scale of this problem is too serious to ignore, both in terms of every human life that may be affected, and in terms of the wider impact on society.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a “profound and pervasive impact” on global mental health as billions struggle to cope with isolated living and anxiety spikes. In a paper published in Lancet Psychiatry, a panel of 24 specialists call for more funding for research into the impacts COVID-19 may have \u0645\u0632\u06cc\u062f \u067e\u0691\u06be\u06cc\u06ba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/intv.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}