Effects of Covid-19 on Mental Health (Research Paper Sample)

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Effects of Covid-19 on Mental Health
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent containment measures have led to increased anxiety and fear within populations, affecting mental health. Populations ranging from children to adults and those in specific populations have been impacted mentally, with some suffering short-term and other long-term mental health problems. Policymakers have come up with containment measures such as quarantine, isolation, lockdowns, which, even though they have been established for the general good, have their disadvantages as people, in the end, have lost their jobs, schools closed, leading to the psychological impact on individuals. Sources of information during the pandemic are mostly through the internet and particularly social media platforms, which have also been found to exacerbate psychosocial distress due to information shared, which in some cases it is usually exaggerated. Health care workers are the most impacted due to their interaction with the pandemic and their awareness of how they are at risk. Further, the pandemic tends to overwhelm, thus overworking, consequently leading to burnout syndrome, making them unproductive. Generally, covid-19 has a detrimental effect on mental health across all populations globally, and stakeholders should aim to mitigate it as if it is another pandemic.
Introduction
The Novel coronavirus pandemic has impacted the world I almost all fields as states have suffered economically, socially, and to some extent, politically. Been in unprecedented times, there is a high likelihood that Covid-19 also impacts people mentally due to uncertainty and fear. Historical data indicates that pandemics can significantly affect the mental health of affected populations. In the past, the world has experienced outbreaks such as Ebola Virus Disease, which indicated an increasingly widespread panic and anxiety, and depression due to loss of incomes, sudden deaths of friends and families, stigmatization, and social exclusion of victims and survivors. People with pre-existing mental health issues are at a higher risk of suffering mental ailments due to the pandemic. People working at the frontline to manage the pandemic, such as nurses and doctors, are also at a high risk of suffering mentally due to stress, burnout, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Generally, all pandemics tend to negatively impact the population affected hence COVID-19 is no exception as its effect is magnified by its contagious nature, leaving victims vulnerable to mental issues due to isolation.
Good mental health is paramount to the proper functioning of a society. However, when pandemics strike, the reaction towards the same is influenced. In normal circumstances, good mental health is essential for society's smooth functioning, emphasizing health care workers who may get overwhelmed by the pandemic and suffer mentally (thelancet.com pp. 1217). Healthcare workers are critical responders to a pandemic but may have to leave the workforce if their mental health is not considered. Poor mental health may also influence vaccine uptake and adherence to medications and precautions, hence increasing infection and transmission susceptibility from one person to the other. For instance, people who have dementia are at high risk of contracting the virus due to difficulties in remembering precautionary measures set by health ministries. COVID-19 pandemic generally has proven to be disturbing for people due to fear and anxiety of a new disease, uncertainty of the outcomes, and it ends up causing strong emotions within the population. Public health precautionary measures like social distancing have made people feel lonely, consequently increasing stress and anxiety.
Mental health is an essential aspect of general health and wellbeing as it affects how people think, feel, and respond. It also affects how people react to stressful situations like a pandemic, relate with others, and make choices in an emergency. Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia make victims more vulnerable during such a scenario as they affect how people think, feel, and the mood is equally influenced. For this reason, people with pre-existing mental health issues should continue with their treatment in times of a pandemic such as COVID-19 due to their vulnerability.
Humans are wired first to satisfy physiological requirements that help in sustaining life. Such include food and shelter. Secondly, they pursue safety, an aspect that is reflected by human's choices of order, certainty, and comfort with disregard to unfamiliarity, inconsistency, and chaos. Humans also have a longing for love and belonging, which is attained by physically and emotionally connecting with people around them. Covid-19 stands in contempt of all these and other human preferences hence the deleterious mental health (Hagerty and Williams). Social connection is among the most crucial needs for people to survive with backing from various studies that indicate the important roles of species' physical and social connections and how they influence survival. With the current pandemic, people are globally encouraged to stay in their homes in isolation and avoid contact from friends, families, and colleagues. Even though these requirements are essential from a public health point of view, the level of physical distancing and discomfort is incompatible with fundamental human instincts and motivations, hence the negative impact on mental health (Hagerty and Williams). Various biotypes are informed by a neural taxonomy conceptualized as a brain-style that contributes to how mental health dysfunction presents itself. With regards to how COVID-19 threatens humans connections, such brain styles somehow play a determinative role in how people experience the pandemic from a mental health point of view. Literature from various sources indicates how such brain styles inhibit human connection, hence COVID-19 is a catalyst that only exacerbates such human connection deficits through distinct pathways across brain styles. These biotypes include; Rumination, anhedonia, and threat dysregulation brain styles.
Brain styles and the impact