The coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak poses unique challenges for psychotherapists and other mental health professionals. The widespread fear, helplessness, illness and death, economic hardship, and disruption of social support caused by the pandemic will create a global need for both supportive crisis counseling and formal mental health treatment. As physical distancing aimed at reducing contagion sharply limits in-person contact, psychotherapists have suddenly been forced to adopt new technologies and learn to provide telepsychotherapy. At this same time, psychotherapists must contend with their own stressors as part of the pandemic-exposed population. We integrate several different literatures to outline how telepsychotherapy can help psychotherapists address patient needs during this pandemic.
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a modern disaster; it is a global event that involves threat of harm or death to large numbers of people, causes loss of resources and disruption of services and social networks. And is likely to have physical impacts,mental health impacts or both.
Many people experience the anxiety, depression, stress or insomnia in the first few months after disaster and in many cases these symptoms resolve overtime.
Therefore, we expect that the current social disruption and economic losses of the current pandemic will add to the mental health impact of COVID-19.
Conclusion:
Acute stress can occur at high rates following a disaster. Preliminary data from COVID-19 suggests high rates of fear, helplessness, loss, and economic hardship, which can take a tremendous human toll on those who are directly and indirectly exposed. Fortunately, we are living in an age of unprecedented opportunity to virtually address psychological symptoms in the wake of COVID-19, with widely available technologies that enable the delivery of effective treatments via telepsychotherapy.