Prevalence of Various Psychological Disorders during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review

As a global threat, the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge to psychological resilience. Systematic studies by examining and combining all related documents can provide a more complete description of the dimensions of the problem in society. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various psychological disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a systematic review. Studies using different combinations of keywords COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, psychological disorders, mental health, psychological consequences were retrieved from different scientific databases Magiran, SID, Iranmedex, Elsevier, Pubmed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science. These studies were published from December 1, 2019, to May 30, 2020. Twenty-eight studies out of 410 retrieved articles were evaluated and analyzed for data extraction.

The analysis of studies revealed that the different types of psychological disorders like stress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental distress, schizophrenia, sleep disorders and sleep disturbances, vicarious traumatization, internet addiction on moderate to severe in public and medical personnel were recorded during COVID-19 crisis. The frontline health care workers such as nurses were more depressed, anxious, insomniac, and mentally disturbed. Women were more vulnerable to psychological disorders and sleep problems. Young people in the age group between 18 and 30 years old were more likely to experience generalized anxiety disorder and mental distress.

COVID-19 has led to high prevalence and a wide range of psychological disorders among individuals and various groups in society, especially in medical personnel. It is essential to provide psychological assistance and training strategies to deal with a variety of these psychological disorders.