Covid-19 and its Effect on Mental Health of Adolescents
Author(s): Aditi Rokade and Pramita Muntode*
Abstract
Background: Corona virus disease (COVID19) affected all countries of the world and had a wide-ranging impact on government blockade. Uncertainty about health risks and how to prevent these risks, increasing economic losses and fears about the future of students going to school, social connections, work and educational commitments, opportunities for physical exercise, daily life, and opportunities for medical services- The sharp decline had general psychological distress. Among these factors, the risk of infection and the fear of being isolated were also observed. Methodology: We conducted a systemic search of the related topics on Pub Med, Google Scholar, Medline and some manual searches were done for the relevant studies and accordingly articles were selected and reviewed. The age group for the review article was 13-18 yrs. Accordingly we found 8 articles with words lockdown, mental health, adolescents, stress being the key words and also being used a lot of times. RESULTS: The symptoms of anxiety, stress, sadness, the fear of missing out have almost doubled since lockdown was imposed and was difficult to cope with alone since the outbreak had begun. We saw a greater percentage of distress in Canada (25%), France (24%), New Zealand (23%), and lower rates in Netherlands (15%), Norway (11%) and Sweden (18%). Other mental health aspects like sleep disturbances, distress have also been seen to worsen during these times. Conclusion: During periods of increasing COVID 19 mortality and implementation of lockdown, adolescent population mental distress was highest or nearly doubled, resulting in sleep disturbances, discomfort, anxiety, and other mental health difficulties among young adults.