The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health outcomes in societies with economic and political instability: the case of Lebanon

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has rapidly spread to most cities in the world since December 2019 causing a rise in global mortality and associated adverse effects on mental health. Lebanese society has a predisposition to poor mental health due to its history of deadly military conflicts and political instability. More recently, it is also experiencing the worst economic crisis in its history with unprecedented rates of unemployment, inflation, poverty, and devaluation of the national currency. The lockdown measures are possibly depriving the Lebanese society of essential coping mechanisms such as group memberships (religion), social support, and community involvement. Mental health services are still in their formative phases in Lebanon and mostly run by civil society organizations. There is an urgent need for a national action plan to respond to the expected poor mental health burden and use of maladaptive coping strategies across the population