Background and Aim: Due to serious psychological effects of COVID-19 like stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder on people, patients, medical staff, families and those quarantined, the purpose of this review was to investigate, identify and provide evidence based psychological interventions.
Methods: This narrative review investigated the studies conducted in the field of psychological interventions and consequences during coronavirus pneumonia from January 1 to May 11, 2020 using the keywords SSARS-CoV-2, pneumonia, psychological interventions in crises, mental health, COVID-19, pandemic. The search was done in databases of Pubmed, Sciencedirect, Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, as well as the most famous Iranian databases, SID, Iranmedax and Magiran. In addition, articles published online by the China National Health Commission, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization were reviewed.
Results: In total, 75 out of 102 articles were reviewed. The findings showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, negative psychological effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disorders and anger in the medical staff and other people involved with Covid-19 were significantly increased. Stressors include health anxiety, conspiracy theories, prolonged quarantine, fear of disease transmission, frustration, fatigue, lack of protective equipment, insufficient information, financial loss, rumors, negative beliefs about vaccination, and stigma. In addition, the findings showed that online cognitive-behavioral therapy approach is effective at the time of COVID-19 outbreak.
Conclusion: According to a review of studies, a decrease in mental health of people, especially medical staff was found, so it is necessary to provide fast, continuous and timely psychological interventions, especially online services. It seems that online psychological services is better than face-to-face psychological services.