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Post-COVID Mental Health Crises: Globally Minded for Solutions and Solidarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2024

Zhaohui Su Open the ORCID record for Zhaohui Su [Opens in a new window] ,
Barry L. Bentley Open the ORCID record for Barry L. Bentley [Opens in a new window] ,
Dean McDonnell ,
Ali Cheshmehzangi ,
Sabina Šegalo Open the ORCID record for Sabina Šegalo [Opens in a new window] ,
Claudimar Pereira da Veiga  and
Yu-Tao Xiang
Zhaohui Su*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health; Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China
Barry L. Bentley
Affiliation:
Bioengineering Research Group, Cardiff School of Technologies, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK Collaboration for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation, University College London, London, UK
Dean McDonnell
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities, South East Technological University, Carlow, Ireland
Ali Cheshmehzangi
Affiliation:
School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Sabina Šegalo
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Studies, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Claudimar Pereira da Veiga*
Affiliation:
Fundação Dom Cabral - FDC, Nova Lima, MG, Brazil
Yu-Tao Xiang*
Affiliation:
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China
*
Corresponding authors: Zhaohui Su, Claudimar Pereira da Veiga and Yu-Tao Xiang; Emails: [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected]
Corresponding authors: Zhaohui Su, Claudimar Pereira da Veiga and Yu-Tao Xiang; Emails: [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected]
Corresponding authors: Zhaohui Su, Claudimar Pereira da Veiga and Yu-Tao Xiang; Emails: [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

Mental health is deteriorating quickly and significantly globally post-COVID. Though there were already over 1 billion people living with mental disorders pre-pandemic, in the first year of COVID-19 alone, the prevalence of anxiety and depression soared by 25% worldwide. In light of the chronic shortages of mental health provider and resources, along with disruptions of available health services caused by the pandemic and COVID-related restrictions, technology is widely believed to hold the key to addressing rising mental health crises. However, hurdles such as fragmented and often suboptimal patient protection measures substantially undermine technology’s potential to address the global mental health crises effectively, reliably, and at scale. To shed light on these issues, this paper aims to discuss the post-pandemic challenges and opportunities the global community could leverage to improve society’s mental health en masse.

Keywords

COVID-19mental healthglobal healthhealth technologieshealth equity
Type
Commentary
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 18 , 2024 , e295
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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