IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MENTAL HEALTH OF GENERAL POPULATION

Introduction: COVID-19 is also known as corona virus and China was the first country to report it in November 2019 as health emergency. World Health Organization (WHO) labelled COVID-19 as pandemic due to its worldwide spread. According to experts, mental health burden due to COVID-19 is going to be far greater than physical health burden itself. Unfortunately, policy makers around the globe are more concerned about the numbers and economy rather than COVID-19 impact on mental health itself. Hence, it is justified to say that there is gross denial of mental health needs in the eyes of policy makers around the globe at moment and this is what governments around the world are going to face very soon. Aims and Objectives: This study is small effort in this direction to ascertain the extent of this growing problem and make us realize that what we are looking is merely the tip of ice berg and not actual mountain itself. Materials and Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study using structured questionnaire-based surveys. Questions were selected by using validated screening tools i.e. PHQ9, GAD7 and modified IES scales. Total participants were 109. 8 submissions were rejected and 101 were considered on merit. Out of which 45 (44.5%) were males and 56(55.44%) were females. Results: The pandemic of COVID-19 economically affected 29(28.72%) individuals, physically affected 13(12.87%) and mentally affected 59(58.41%). The elaborated data also revealed that pandemic of COVID-19 has different effect on each individual. 59 subjects suffered from anxiety, 22 subjects from sleep disturbance/insomnia and 19 subjects had altered mood levels. Conclusion: This study found that mental health problems are on rise in general population during public health emergency. Also indicated that low education level, enterprise employment work style, PTSD symptoms and negative coping styles are the main influence factors of the mental health disaster in general population. This study highlights the need for local governments to take appropriate mental health interventions based upon the characteristics of the general population. Key Words:Mental health; anxiety; COVID-19; depression; insomni