(Impact of COVID-19 on mental health: what are the long-term consequences?[1])
Background and challenges of mental health impacts in Taiwan
According to data from the WHO, as of October 2021, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has spread to over 200 countries and regions, with more than 236 million confirmed cases and 4.83 million deaths globally in total[5]. COVID-19 has resulted in not only heavy losses to lives and a decline in financial incomes but also brought serious trauma to people’s psychology. This blog will be focused on mental health impacts in Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, a Provincial-level administrative division of the People’s Republic of China located in east Asia.
Cities worldwide have been forced to come up with tight restrictions to develop such measures to avoid virus transmission. Even though the measures seem to work for Taiwan, the prevalence of psychological distress in the general population is extremely high. According to an existing online survey carried out in Taiwan, approximately 54% of the respondents indicated that they were suffering from great stress, anxiety, and sadness during the COVID-19 pandemic, of which 71%of them were front-line workers. It is also surprising that more than 2% of participants even reported their suicidal tendency during the post-pandemic period[4]. More studies have stated that the physical damage caused by these public health pandemics may be recovered in a short time, but the psychological impacts will not just go away easily. Therefore, challenges have been raised to implement psychological crisis intervention for the public as soon as possible.
The main drivers of mantle health impacts of Covid-19 in Taiwan
Michael Bristow from BBC News reported that only 1% of the 23 million Taiwanese were vaccinated by late May 2021[2], while WHO had approved the listing of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine which was produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG) on 7th May 2021[10]. Although China has already stepped into a post-pandemic stage, the Taiwan government refused to accept any early vaccines including “CoronaVac” and “Sinovac” developed by the People’s Republic of China due to the “One country, two systems” policy.
A dual-frame survey taken in July 2020 in Taiwan found that people will experience varying degrees of anxiety, depression, panic, and insomnia, as well as huge psychological stress during the pandemic[7]. One of the major drivers in Taiwan that results in mental health issues is the loss of (or fear of losing) employment. The closure of most businesses has greatly made it difficult for such companies to maintain their employees [8]. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have seen most companies coming to a temporary and complete shutdown. As a result, many people have lost their jobs as they cannot keep paying for services they do no longer offer. Moreover, such closures have resulted in massive layoffs, which have consequently caused huge psychological stress.
Additionally, the fear of contracting the virus, self-isolation, and lack of support may also be the key factors contributing to psychological distress[4]. Studies in trauma psychology have found that individuals will actively collect relevant information about the risk event to construct their defensive attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to maintain their health. During this process, people’s anxiety levels will be induced or aggravated due to long-term exposure to media reports of traumatic events, which will make individuals experience traumatic events indirectly. The social network model of emotional infection also believes that emotions can be transmitted through social networks and affect others[9]. The information reported by the media contains emotionally negative information which can be transmitted to the audience through the media and intensifies the negative psychological reaction of the audience as a result.
Next steps/Suitable adjustments
Unfortunately, no permanent medication has been approved by the FDA yet. However, in the recent past, the Taiwan government is committed to developing mental health care to support patients with mental illness. To improve the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the social vulnerability of communities is necessary and essential. Announcements of turning off the news and other media for a period every day was published by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare. Although updated daily COVID-19 information is important, it can frustrate people and raise anxiety as a result. Furthermore, Taiwan’s mental health center must accommodate a larger number of patients and accept new patients[3]. Since mental issues patients are vulnerable, seeking help from a psychologist or contact medical staff is always the best solution[6].
On the other hand, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals are different based on early treatment experiences and existing case studies. It is vital to focus on these adverse psychological effects of the pandemic while conducting psychological interventions. In addition, crises may create more obstacles for people who are already suffering from mental illness, and special attention needs to be paid when providing support[1].
References:
- Alcimed. 2021. Impact of COVID-19 on mental health: what are the long-term consequences?. [online] Available at: <https://www.alcimed.com/en/alcim-articles/impact-of-covid-19-on-mental-health-what-are-the-long-term-consequences/> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
- BBC News 中文. 2021. 台湾疫情 在病毒与两岸政治夹缝中求疫苗的艰难抉择 – BBC News 中文. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57281238> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
- Chen, J., Xiong, M., He, Z., Shi, W., Yue, Y., He, M., 2020. The enclosed ward management strategies in psychiatric hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Glob. Health 16, 53. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00586-z
- Chen, Y., Wu, K. and Gau, S., 2021. Mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association, 120(7), pp.1421-1423.
- Covid19.who.int. 2021. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. [online] Available at: <https://covid19.who.int/> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
- Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. 2021. COVID-19 & Mental Health. [online] Available at: <https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/coronavirus/mental-health> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
- D. Gunnell, L. Appleby, E. Arensman, K. Hawton, A. John, N. Kapur, et al. ‘Suicide risk and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic’. Lancet Psychiatry, 7 (2020), pp. 468-471
- Hensvik, L., Le Barbanchon, T., & Rathelot, R. (2021). Job search during the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Public Economics, 194, 104349.
- Kramer, A., Guillory, J., and Hancock, J., 2014. Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(24), pp.8788-8790.
- Who.int. 2021. WHO lists additional COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use and issues interim policy recommendations. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/news/item/07-05-2021-who-lists-additional-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
