Asian Journal of Psychiatry 

About: Asian Journal of Psychiatry is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Mental health. It has an ISSN identifier of 1876-2018. Over the lifetime, 3436 publications have been published receiving 41520 citations.

COVID-19 and mental health: A review of the existing literature.

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a major health crisis affecting several nations, with over 720,000 cases and 33,000 confirmed deaths reported to date. Such widespread outbreaks are associated with adverse mental health consequences. Keeping this in mind, existing literature on the COVID-19 outbreak pertinent to mental health was retrieved via a literature search of the PubMed database. Published articles were classified according to their overall themes and summarized. Preliminary evidence suggests that symptoms of anxiety and depression (16-28%) and self-reported stress (8%) are common psychological reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, and may be associated with disturbed sleep. A number of individual and structural variables moderate this risk. In planning services for such populations, both the needs of the concerned people and the necessary preventive guidelines must be taken into account. The available literature has emerged from only a few of the affected countries, and may not reflect the experience of persons living in other parts of the world. In conclusion, subsyndromal mental health problems are a common response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for more representative research from other affected countries, particularly in vulnerable populations.

Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract: Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) originating from China has rapidly crossed borders, infecting people throughout the whole world. This phenomenon has led to a massive public reaction; the media has been reporting continuously across borders to keep all informed about the pandemic situation. All these things are creating a lot of concern for people leading to heightened levels of anxiety. Pandemics can lead to heightened levels of stress; Anxiety is a common response to any stressful situation. This study attempted to assess the knowledge, attitude, anxiety experience, and perceived mental healthcare need among adult Indian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 662 responses were received. The responders had a moderate level of knowledge about the COVID-19 infection and adequate knowledge about its preventive aspects. The attitude towards COVID-19 showed peoples' willingness to follow government guidelines on quarantine and social distancing. The anxiety levels identified in the study were high. More than 80 % of the people were preoccupied with the thoughts of COVID-19 and 72 % reported the need to use gloves, and sanitizers. In this study, sleep difficulties, paranoia about acquiring COVID-19 infection and distress related social media were reported in 12.5 %, 37.8 %, and 36.4 % participants respectively. The perceived mental healthcare need was seen in more than 80 % of participants. There is a need to intensify the awareness and address the mental health issues of people during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Epidemic of COVID-19 in China and associated Psychological Problems.

Abstract: The world is experiencing pandemic of the COVID-19 now, a RNA virus that spread out from Wuhan, China. Two countries, China first and later Italy, have gone to full lock down due to rapid spread of this virus. Till to date, no epidemiological data on mental health problems due to outbreak of the COVID-19 and mass isolation were not available. To meet this need, the present study was undertaken to assess the mental health status of Chinese people. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 1074 Chinese people, majority of whom from Hubei province. Lack of adequate opportunities to conduct face to face interview, anxiety, depression, mental well-being and alcohol consumption behavior were assessed via self-reported measures. Results showed higher rate of anxiety, depression, hazardous and harmful alcohol use, and lower mental wellbeing than usual ratio. Results also revealed that young people aged 21-40 years are in more vulnerable position in terms of their mental health conditions and alcohol use. To address mental health crisis during this epidemic, it is high time to implement multi-faceted approach (i.e. forming multidisciplinary mental health team, providing psychiatric treatments and other mental health services, utilizing online counseling platforms, rehabilitation program, ensuring certain care for vulnerable groups, etc.).

Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic-A review.

Abstract: Introduction The spread of novel corona virus (COVID-19) across the globe and the associated morbidity and mortality challenged the nations by several means. One such underrecognized and unaddressed area is the mental health issues medical staff develop during the pandemic. Materials and methods This review aimed to review the literature about mental health problems faced by health care workers (HCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Embase. All types of articles published in the last 4 months (January 2020-April 2020) which were relevant to the subject of the review were searched. A total of 23 articles were selected by initial screening and 6 articles were included in the final review. Results Review of all the 6 articles showed that current research focused on assessing several aspects of mental health affected in HCW due to COVID-19. Several sociodemographic variables like gender, profession, age, place of work, department of work and psychological variables like poor social support, self-efficacy were associated with increased stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia in HCW. There is increasing evidence that suggests that COVID-19 can be an independent risk factor for stress in HCW. Conclusion Regular screening of medical personnel involved in treating, diagnosing patients with COVID-19 should be done for evaluating stress, depression and anxiety by using multidisciplinary Psychiatry teams.

Iranian mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression and clin significance of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) Methods Twenty-five patients who were pos for the nucleic acid of new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) treated at the Changshou District People′s Hospital of Chongqing from Jan 18 to Feb 25, 2020 were selected as the research subjects Among them, 21 patients had clin symptoms, and the COVID-19 patient was diagnosed as the COVID-19 group;4 patients had no clin symptoms, but the SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test was pos as the asymptomatic group;select 20 healthy people in the same period as the control group The lymphocyte subsets of each group were detected, and the differences in the levels of lymphocyte subsets were analyzed Results In 21 patients with COVID-19, the total lymphocyte counts (Lym#)of 18 patients were lower than the normal reference range, and 3 patients were within the normal reference range;the natural killer cell counts (NK#) of 20 patients were lower than the normal reference range, and that of 1 patient was within the normal reference range The percentage of T lymphocyte and B lymphocyte in COVID-19 group was higher than that in control group (P <0 05),the percentage of NK cells (NK%), Lym#, T lymphocyte count, CD4 + T lymphocyte count, CD8 + T lymphocyte count, NK# were lower than those in the control group (P <0 05) NK and NK% in COVID-19 group were lower than those in asymptomatic group (P <0 05) Conclusions The level of lymphocyte subsets is abnormal in patients with COVID-19, and NK cells decrease significantly There are differences in lymphocyte subsets among patients with COVID-19, asymptomatic infection and healthy people, suggesting that lymphocyte subsets may have certain clin value in the diagnosis and disease assessment of COVID-19