Abstract

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented disruptions to the normal way of life for people around the globe. Health services have been overburdened in both developed and developing countries. The impact of the ongoing pandemic on mental and physical health, jobs, and relationships could be catastrophic, warranting collective action.

Aim: To evaluate the magnitude of COVID-19’ impacting on psychiatric services and health professionals, as well as to gain useful insights into the potential health burden of similar pandemics and global disasters in the future.

Materials and Methods: Published studies concerning mental health problems associated with the COVID-19 outbreak and other global infections were considered and reviewed. A selective survey of the literature, including narrative reviews, was then carried out to collect different interpretations, which helped form a framework to study the ongoing pandemic’s implications for psychiatric services.

Results: Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge of mental health problems. During the pandemic, mental healthcare services have been reorganized in many parts of the world to seek help from modern technological facilities and offer speedier service input. Such a procedure may involve merits and demerits. Mental health professionals do not seem to have properly considered the global nature of the Internet, the associated risks and they should be urged to pay more attention to the limitations of web-based therapies, as well as ethical and legal problems, before popularizing distance treatment. However, virtual psychiatry in combination with face-to-face interactions are likely to continue in the future years.