Mental health services for infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review

Jing-Li Yue¹, Wei Yan¹, Yan-Kun Sun¹, Kai Yuan¹, Si-Zhen Su¹, Ying Han², Arun V Ravindran³, Thomas Kosten⁴, Ian Everall⁵, Christopher G Davey⁶, Edward Bullmore^{7

8}, Norito Kawakami⁹, Corrado Barbui^{10

11}, Graham Thornicroft¹², Crick Lund^{13

14}, Xiao Lin¹⁵, Lin Liu¹, Le Shi¹, Jie Shi², Mao-Sheng Ran¹⁶, Yan-Ping Bao², Lin Lu^{1

15}

Affiliations

¹ Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China.
² National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
⁴ Division of Alcohol and Addiction Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
⁵ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁸ Department of Research and Development, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹¹ Cochrane Global Mental Health, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹² Centre for Global Mental Health and Centre for Implementation Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹³ Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁵ Peking-Tsinghua Centre for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 33148347
PMCID: PMC7642960
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720003888

Mental health services for infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review

Jing-Li Yue et al. Psychol Med. 2020 Nov.

. 2020 Nov;50(15):2498-2513.

doi: 10.1017/S0033291720003888. Epub 2020 Nov 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China.
² National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
⁴ Division of Alcohol and Addiction Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
⁵ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁸ Department of Research and Development, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹¹ Cochrane Global Mental Health, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹² Centre for Global Mental Health and Centre for Implementation Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹³ Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁵ Peking-Tsinghua Centre for Life Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 33148347
PMCID: PMC7642960
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720003888

Abstract

The upsurge in the number of people affected by the COVID-19 is likely to lead to increased rates of emotional trauma and mental illnesses. This article systematically reviewed the available data on the benefits of interventions to reduce adverse mental health sequelae of infectious disease outbreaks, and to offer guidance for mental health service responses to infectious disease pandemic. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, WHO Global Research Database on infectious disease, and the preprint server medRxiv were searched. Of 4278 reports identified, 32 were included in this review. Most articles of psychological interventions were implemented to address the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, followed by Ebola, SARS, and MERS for multiple vulnerable populations. Increasing mental health literacy of the public is vital to prevent the mental health crisis under the COVID-19 pandemic. Group-based cognitive behavioral therapy, psychological first aid, community-based psychosocial arts program, and other culturally adapted interventions were reported as being effective against the mental health impacts of COVID-19, Ebola, and SARS. Culturally-adapted, cost-effective, and accessible strategies integrated into the public health emergency response and established medical systems at the local and national levels are likely to be an effective option to enhance mental health response capacity for the current and for future infectious disease outbreaks. Tele-mental healthcare services were key central components of stepped care for both infectious disease outbreak management and routine support; however, the usefulness and limitations of remote health delivery should also be recognized.

Keywords: COVID-19; infectious disease; mental health service; psychological intervention; tele-mental healthcare.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

**Fig. 1.**
Selection of included studies.

**Fig. 2.**
Summary of mental health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Mental health services for infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review

Affiliations

Mental health services for infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

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