Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impacts of social distancing on the occurrence of symptoms of anxiety and depression reported in scientific production available in 2020, describing and analyzing the main triggering factors of mental health problems/diseases in the period of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The method used was an integrative literature review, with searches in Lilacs, SciELO, Medline, and PubMed databases. The following descriptors were used for the selection of publications: Social Distancing, Anxiety, and Depression, used in combination in the search strategy. To refine the search, filters were used: full text; Language Portuguese, English, and Spanish; Main subject; Type of document, with an article as the only type of literature accepted; Year of Publication 2020. This research identified 37 studies later categorized into five main themes: Physical Inactivity, Reduction of social contact and face-to-face interactions, Financial concerns and economic vulnerability, Loneliness, and Alcohol Consumption. The major impacts of social distancing on mental health were the drastic change in routine, favoring sedentary behavior, and limitation in interpersonal contact indicated in many studies as a generator of a high prevalence of harmful psychological effects, especially depression, anxiety, irritability, and irritability episodes of insomnia. The perception of loneliness as a consequence of the period of social distancing was also identified by most studies as associated with anxious and depressive outcomes and with an increased risk of suicidal ideation, as well as the increased use of alcohol, widely used as an escape from reality in the current context of economic resection, unemployment, indebtedness, and death of family and friends by COVID-19.