Introduction
The current public health crisis caused by COVID-19 threatens various areas of human life, including social, economic, and political ones. Mental distress is one of the key issues that can be taken into account to evaluate the impact of this pandemic (Shevlin et al., 2020). It affects individuals, families, and communities because of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety.
People have little information about this rapidly spreading disease, and it promotes the development of mental health problems. While people are afraid of the coronavirus, medical staff is at the forefront of the combat against this pandemic, and their mental health changes are also examined. This paper is expected to provide a literature review of the recent studies focusing on COVID-19 and mental health. Namely, attention is paid to mental distress expressions and consequences, vulnerable populations that are at high risk, and the impact of the pandemic on medical students.
Main body
COVID-19 increases the level of mental health distress, especially in people who have depression and/or anxiety history. As stated by Holingue et al. (2020), the participants of their study were afraid of being infected, which was strengthened by the fear of dying because of the coronavirus. The steps that were taken by the US government to prevent the pandemic, such as social isolation, wearing masks, and others, were noted as another anxiety factor. Bridgland et al. (2021) add that the current pandemic is associated with traumatic stress since it stimulates post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms. Namely, direct exposure to such traumatic events as sexual violation or severe injury was found to affect the occurrence of PTSD-like symptoms (Bridgland et al., 2021). More to the point, the anticipated exposure to the coronavirus was identified as a threatening factor, when people develop mental distress and traumatic responses.
The participants of the studies that pursue the understanding of how COVID-19 leads to the emergence of mental stress reported their concerns about the potential infection that has not yet happened. Based on a pathogenic event memory model, Bridgland et al. (2021) argue that one’s perception of the future and imagination of the upcoming events is significantly affected by the coronavirus. For example, those who were not diagnosed with this disease, but were indirectly impacted by the media, imagined their worst possible scenario. It led to the identification of PTSD-like symptoms, which were caused by subjective emotional evaluations of participants. In this connection, the authors suggest that the emotional impact can be a more important factor compared to exposure and demographic variables (Bridgland et al., 2021). The review of the collected literature shows that social and demographic factors play a role in COVID-19 spread in the US.
The increase in mental health issues can be predicted by the level of income, age, race, and family structure. Demographic characteristics, such as the presence of children, younger age, and personal risks, predicted depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. Shevlin et al. (2020) claim that the loss of income and overall financial problems were associated with higher anxiety, while those with a lower income reported similar feelings. In addition, these authors revealed that despite the expected outcomes, older adults did not mention the greater fear of COVID-19. It is noteworthy that people of younger age, on the contrary, had higher perceived risks and fear (Shevlin et al., 2020). The estimated personal risks, as well as the presence of children, are two more factors of the anticipated depression and traumatic symptoms. As could be expected, people with preexisting health complications and chronic conditions are more likely to have a fear of the pandemic. While the identified study explores social and demographic factors, the geographical variable is researched in others.
Race and nationality serve as two more determining factors that are involved in mental health problems from COVID-19. As argued by Fitzpatrick et al. (2020), researchers analyzed the death rates from coronavirus among various categories of the US population and found that African-Americans die from the infection more often than white citizens of the country. The study also shows that the social vulnerabilities that are faced by African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are higher (Fitzpatrick et al., 2020). These populations are found to have greater fear because of personal perceived risks, along with social and economic problems, which leads to increased depression and anxiety levels. According to Holingue et al. (2020), high COVID-19 count states included more Asians, African-Americans, and multiracial families, which indicates that research is homogenous regarding the issue of race and ethnicity.
Coronavirus fear is greater in the regions of the US that report the highest occurrence of the disease cases. According to Fitzpatrick et al. (2020), there are significant differences in fear in the regions that have higher cases of COVID-19. At the time of data collection, the South-South Atlantic, Northeast Mid-Atlantic, West Pacific, and the Northeast New England regions reported the greatest densities of mortality. Holingue et al. (2020) also mention that the states with high-count cases are more likely to have higher proportions of moderate and mild mental distress. The above authors also state that the rates of mental distress are likely to increase with the spread of the pandemic across the country. This tendency can be explained by the fact that people see how their close ones are affected by the disease, and how the media sources report the recent news, which is associated with fear (Holingue et al., 2020). The majority of the studies are conducted about the population and potential patients, while it is also essential to clarify the role COVID-19 plays in mental issues that occur in medical staff, and people who are witnesses of the pandemic.
COVID-19 negatively impacts undergraduate medical students’ mental health by causing stress, depression, and anxiety. In the study by Saraswathi et al. (2020), it is found that there is an increase in both prevalence and extent of stress and anxiety compared to pre-COVID-19. However, the authors note the level of depression remained unchanged, while these tendencies are present regardless of gender, age, and residence place. The deterioration in the mental health of undergraduate medical students is found to be associated with coronavirus-related issues and subsequent outcomes. Namely, poor sleep and more intense training were identified by the study participants, based on which Saraswathi et al. (2020) assume that these are key determining factors. In addition, a lack of schedule, lockdown measures, remote education, and reduced physical activity seem to affect students’ cognitive skills and emotional well-being. To better realize the value of the gathered articles, it is critical to reveal their strengths and limitations.
To make this literature review more comprehensive, it seems to be useful to pay attention to the strengths and limitations of the included studies. First, they focus on the US and the UK, which is important to synthesize data regarding these countries. Second, these studies are published in peer-reviewed journals, which is a guarantee of their reliability and credibility. However, it is critical to state that they collected subjective data from participants, which limits the generalizability of conclusions. Anxiety and depression, as well as PTSD-like symptoms and fear, were mainly evaluated through self-reports (Holingue et al., 2020; Fitzpatrick et al., 2020). Nevertheless, the review of the studies allows for making relevant conclusions to understand the connection between COVID-19 and mental distress.
Conclusion
To conclude, COVID-19 is a threat to the mental health of people as it causes fear, depression, anxiety, PTSD-like symptoms, and other related symptoms. This paper presents a review of the factors, outcomes, and risks of mental distress caused by COVID-19. It was found that those who have a history of mental distress, lost their income, and anticipated the worst scenario is more likely to develop mental distress. People living in the states with higher mortality and those of younger age also compose vulnerable populations. It can be stressed that four out of five studies focus on the first months of the pandemic, which limits their findings. Therefore, it is important to continue research and integrate the early data with the recent results. As for the practical use of the discussed knowledge, one can use it better understand how people react to direct and indirect exposure. A greater level of awareness seems to help in preventing mental distress or, at least, minimize the impact of the media.
References
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Fitzpatrick, K. M., Harris, C., & Drawve, G. (2020). Fear of COVID-19 and the mental health consequences in America.Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12, 17-21. Web.
Holingue, Calliope, M.P.H., Kalb, L. G., Riehm, K. E., M.Sc, Bennett, D., Kapteyn, A., PhD., Veldhuis, C. B., & Thrul, J. (2020). Mental distress in the united states at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Public Health, 110(11), 1628-1634. Web.
Saraswathi, I., Saikarthik, J., K, S. K., Kumar, M. S., Madhan Srinivasan K., Ardhanaari, M., & Gunapriya, R. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the mental health status of undergraduate medical students in a COVID-19 treating medical college: A prospective longitudinal study.PeerJ, 8, 1-25. Web.
Shevlin, M., McBride, O., Murphy, J., Jilly, G. M., Hartman, T. K., Levita, L., Bentall, R. P. (2020). Anxiety, depression, traumatic stress and COVID-19-related anxiety in the UK general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. BJPsych Open, 6(6), 1-9. Web.