Psychological impacts of Covid-19 outbreak on mental health status of society individuals: A narrative review

Abstract

From the end of December 2019, outbreak of a novel viral disease was reported in Wuhan city of China, which caused by a novel coronavirus and was officially named as COVID-19 by World Health Organization (WHO). The outbreak of COVID-19 was unique in its rapidity of transmission, which has become a global health emergency within just a few months in all countries worldwide. This disease will not only raise public health concerns but also cause several psychological distress, including anxiety, fear, depression, stigmatization, avoidance behaviors, irritability, insomnia, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this situation, the maintenance of mental health status of individuals is very important because people in different parts of society may experience additional stressors during the COVID-19 outbreak. Individuals in different parts of a society may experience the psychological symptoms to COVID-19 during the rising phase of the outbreak, including patients of COVID-19, quarantine individuals, health care workers and family members of medical staffs, children, university students, pregnant women, and families. In this regard, there is the strong evidence that the mental health status of these populations is vulnerable to exhibition of the psychological disorders symptoms. © 2020 Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.