• With some 2.6 billion people around the world in some kind of lockdown, nosotros are conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment e'er;
  • This will result in a secondary epidemic of burnouts and stress-related absenteeism in the latter half of 2020;
  • Taking activity now tin mitigate the toxic furnishings of COVID-19 lockdowns.

In the mid-1990s, France was ane of the first countries in the world to prefer a revolutionary approach for the backwash of terrorist attacks and disasters. In addition to a medical field hospital or triage mail, the French crisis response includes setting upwardly a psychological field unit, a Cellule d'Urgence Médico-Psychologique or CUMPS.

In that second triage post, victims and witnesses who were non physically harmed receive psychological help and are checked for signs of needing farther post-traumatic treatment. In those situations, the World Health Organisation recommends protocols like R-TEP (Contempo Traumatic Episode Protocol) and G-TEP (Group Traumatic Episode Protocol).

Since France led the fashion more than than xx years ago, international playbooks for disaster response increasingly call for this two-tent approach: one for the wounded and ane to treat the invisible, psychological wounds of trauma.

In treating the COVID-xix pandemic, the world is scrambling to build plenty tents to treat those infected with a deadly, highly contagious virus. In New York, we see literal field hospitals in the eye of Cardinal Park.

Just we're not setting upwardly the second tent for psychological assist and we will pay the price within 3 to six months later the end of this unprecedented lockdown, at a time when we will need all able bodies to help the world economic system recover.

The mental toll of quarantine and lockdown

Currently, an estimated ii.half dozen billion people – 1-tertiary of the world's population – is living nether some kind of lockdown or quarantine. This is arguably the largest psychological experiment ever conducted.

Estimated size of lockdowns around the world

Estimated size of lockdowns around the world

Image: Statista

Unfortunately, we already have a good thought of its results. In late February 2020, right before European countries mandated diverse forms of lockdowns, The Lancet published a review of 24 studies documenting the psychological bear on of quarantine (the "restriction of movement of people who have potentially been exposed to a contagious affliction"). The findings offer a glimpse of what is brewing in hundreds of millions of households around the world.

In curt, and perchance unsurprisingly, people who are quarantined are very likely to develop a wide range of symptoms of psychological stress and disorder, including depression mood, indisposition, stress, anxiety, acrimony, irritability, emotional burnout, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Depression mood and irritability specifically stand up out equally being very common, the study notes.

In China, these expected mental health furnishings are already existence reported in the first research papers well-nigh the lockdown.

In cases where parents were quarantined with children, the mental health cost became even steeper. In one study, no less than 28% of quarantined parents warranted a diagnosis of "trauma-related mental health disorder".

Among quarantined infirmary staff, virtually 10% reported "high depressive symptoms" up to three years after being quarantined. Another study reporting on the long-term effects of SARS quarantine among healthcare workers constitute a long-term risk for alcohol corruption, self-medication and long-lasting "abstention" behaviour. This ways that years subsequently being quarantined, some infirmary workers withal avert being in close contact with patients past just non showing up for work.

Reasons for stress abound in lockdown: there is risk of infection, fear of becoming sick or of losing loved ones, also as the prospect of financial hardship. All these, and many more, are present in this current pandemic.

The second epidemic and setting upwards the 2d tent online

Nosotros can already run across a abrupt increase in absenteeism in countries in lockdown. People are afraid to catch COVID-19 on the work floor and avert work. We will see a second moving ridge of this in three to six months. Just when we demand all able bodies to repair the economy, we can expect a sharp spike in absenteeism and burnout.

Nosotros know this from many examples, ranging from absence in military units later deployment in gamble areas, companies that were close to Ground Zero in 9/eleven and medical professionals in regions with outbreaks of Ebola, SARS and MERS.

Right before the lockdown, nosotros conducted a benchmark survey amid a representative sample of the Belgian population. In that survey, we saw that 32% of the population could be classified as highly resilient ("green"). Only xv% of the population indicated toxic levels of stress ("ruby").

How stress under lockdown is affecting Belgians

How stress under lockdown is affecting Belgians

In our most contempo survey after two weeks of lockdown, the greenish portion has shrunk to 25% of the population. The "red" office of the population has increased by x per centum points to fully 25% of the population.

These are the people at loftier risk for long-term absenteeism from work due to illness and burnout. Even if they stay at piece of work, inquiry from Eurofound reports a loss of productivity of 35% for these workers.

In general, nosotros know at-take a chance groups for long-term mental wellness problems will be the healthcare workers who are on the frontline, immature people under 30 and children, the elderly and those in precarious situations, for example, owing to mental illness, disability and poverty.

All this should surprise no i; insights on the long-term damage of disasters have been accepted in the field of trauma psychology for decades.

The phases of disaster response

The phases of disaster response

Paradigm: When disaster strikes, Beverly Raphael, 1986

But while the insights are non new, the sheer scale of these lockdowns is. This time, ground nothing is non a quarantined village or town or region; a third of the global population is dealing with these intense stressors. We need to human activity at present to mitigate the toxic furnishings of this lockdown.

What is the Globe Economic Forum doing well-nigh the coronavirus outbreak?

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation amidst governments, international organizations and the concern community, which is at the heart of the World Economic Forum'southward mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum's COVID Activity Platform has brought together ane,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the run a risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health System and is open to all businesses and manufacture groups, equally well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organisation, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Almanac Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and ceremonious order to advance the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

What governments and NGOs tin and should practise today

There is wide consensus among academics about the psychological care following disasters and major incidents. Here are a few rules of thumb:

  • Make certain self-help interventions are in place that can address the needs of large affected populations;
  • Educate people about the expected psychological impact and reactions to trauma if they are interested in receiving it. Make sure people sympathise that a psychological reaction is normal;
  • Launch a specific website to address psychosocial issues;
  • Make certain that people with astute problems tin can discover the help that they need

In Belgium, we recently launched Anybody OK, an online tool that tries to offer aid to the affected population. Using existing protocols and interventions, we launched our digital self-assistance tool in equally little as 2 weeks.

When it comes to offer psychological back up to their populations, most countries are belatedly to react, equally they were to the novel coronavirus. Ameliorate late than never.

This commodity is role of the COVID Activeness Platform for Media, a coalition of over 20 media from effectually the world. The Platform aims to create meaningful and constructive content on the COVID pandemic, and syndicates it through its media partners. Interested? Sign upward here