25 April 2020 | New Scientist | 5THERE are still many unknowns
about how this pandemic will play out.
The immediate concern is rightly how
to save lives. But another important
question is the effect on the world’s
long-term mental health.
The future here is unclear and an
ongoing global research effort to
monitor and understand the mental
toll is needed. Psychologists are
already tooling up to find answers.
In the meantime, one useful way to
break down the problem is to examine
the impacts on four groups, as we write
in our special report (see page 40). These
are the general population, families
and children, vulnerable people and
front-line workers. Past experiences
of national trauma can be our guide
and allow us to draw several ideas.
First, the good news: many of thepotential negative consequences to our
mental health can be avoided if we take
good and timely action.
Past experience also suggests that
some groups will be hit harder. Existing
mental health inequalities within
society will widen, compounded bythe financial insecurity brought on
by the pandemic, which, as we saw
after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, can
exacerbate mental health issues.
Those with pre-existing mental health
problems are particularly vulnerable at
a time when they are unlikely to have
access to their normal means of support.For them, advice isn’t enough – they
must have access to professional
psychological help, and we need more
ways to deliver this remotely.
Experience within the military can
offer useful coping strategies for front-
line healthcare workers. Team leaders
must be primed to identify signs among
staff that normal levels of distress are
turning into something more serious.
Simple actions, such as a short
conversation during times of acute
stress, can improve long-term mental
health outcomes.
As we have already learned with the
threat of this virus to our physical health,
we can’t wait to have all the answers
before we take action to identify and
protect those most at risk. Doing so now
will help mitigate the impact today, and
for decades to come. ❚Ways to cope
Lessons from the past can help us deal with the pandemic’s mental health fallout
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“ Experience within the military
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