Lockdown and Isolation: Psychological Aspects of Covid-19 Pandemic in the General Population

Abstract

As of March 2020, the respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been declared a "pandemic" by the WHO. In an effort to stem the spread of the virus, governments around the world have ordered more or less restrictive isolation measures. If lockdown and social isolation have proven to be quite effective in terms of physical containment, mental health appears undermined by the onset of feelings such as uncertainty, fear, and despair. Likely, in the near future, mental health professionals will be called to face a "parallel pandemic" of acute stress disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, emotional disturbance, sleep disorders, depressive syndromes and eventually suicides.