Common Psychological Disorders, At-Risk People And Strategies Ahead During Covid-19

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has led to unprecedented psychological stress on people around the world, and in this situation, mental health promotion is too important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the common psychological disorders, people at risk and preventive strategies for psychological disorders during COVID-19.

In this narrative review, electronic databases including SID, Iran Doc, Magiran, Google Scholar، ProQuest، Scopus، Science Direct, Web of Science and PubMed were searched to retrieve articles published from the beginning of 2020 to 31 August 2020 by using  English and Persian keywords such as psychiatric disorders, Covid-19, anxiety disorder, stress disorders and post-traumatic. Inclusion criteria were descriptive, cross-sectional, review, experimental and expert panel studies, and exclusion criteria included letters to the editor, poster or lecture and lack of access to the full text. Totally, 72 of 507 articles met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated.

Depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were the most common psychological disorders. Other psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, paranoia, panic attacks and sleep disorders were reported more than before the covid-19 outbreak. The elderly people with chronic diseases, woman, people spending too much time thinking about the outbreak, medical and health staff and students as well as relatives of a person with Covid-19 were at high risk of psychological disorders. The most effective preventive strategies were based on virtual training and consulting.

Based on the results, it is suggested that health system officials with early recognition of common psychological disorders and at-risk individuals should prepare care and prevention protocols specific to each group in an operational manner and with a high penetration rate.