Abstract

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA AND PTSD DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Author(s): Azza Sarfraz, Zouina Sarfraz*, Shehar Bano, Muzna Sarfraz, Aminah Abdul Razzack, Nishwa Azeem and Dhaval Ruwala

As of August 9, 2021, there have been around 203 million confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (2019) COVID-19, including 4.3 million deaths. Adverse psychological effects are expected to be long-lasting in vulnerable groups, especially among frontline healthcare workers, given the magnitude of the crisis. Observing strict quarantine and social distancing measures, while being an important strategy to curb the spread, have also led to a significant negative impact on mental health indicators; the long-term consequences are yet to be assessed on a global scale. A medical crisis may become a mental health crisis and the updated findings are reviewed in this paper to provide an updated brief for immunological, occupational, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, psychological predictors while commenting on care recommendations to prevent psychological trauma from progressing to PTSD.

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