Telepsychology During COVID-19: It All Depends On How You Look At It

The global lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has opened the door to the deepest fears of humanity in this interconnected world: isolation. A worldwide scale of anxiety, loneliness and fear, associated with worrying about the virus, unemployment, social isolation and uncertainty added up to a mental state we may even start to call as “depidemic.” Research shows that about half the population has been or is facing mental health issues since the outbreak. Preserving mental health thus has been an increasing topic over the past months.  We know from the fact that working from home is linked with increased stress levels and that a growing number of healthcare workers and frontliners experience PTSD. We also know that the lockdown itself had a major impact on emotional well-being on a global scale; that children are particularly affected, resulting in a growing number of child agoraphobes; and that alcohol abuse has also increased worldwide. It is thus not an overstatement to say that the world is heading towards a mental health apocalypse. And the two are interconnected: “good mental health is absolutely fundamental to overall health and well-being,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. At the same time, conventional treatment methods, particularly in-person consultations were out of the question for evident reasons. So there we were: an immensely growing number of people willing to start or continue therapy on one side, an...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Lifestyle medicine Digital Health Research E-Patients Future of Medicine Healthcare Policy Medical Education Telemedicine & Smartphones depression psychology anxiety remote remote care telepsychology Source Type: blogs