Dealing with fear, stigma caused by virus

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are suffering from mental health problems across the world, with psychological support in urgent need, experts said at a forum held from May 7 to 9.

The event was jointly organized by the Southwest University of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Mianyang, Sichuan province, which was hit hard by an earthquake in 2008 and is a pilot city of China to provide citizens with psychosocial aid. The forum brought together psychologists from home and abroad to discuss how to ease negative emotions caused by the pandemic.

With about 3.32 million people dead around the world, the deadly coronavirus has triggered widespread anxiety, depression and fear, experts said.

According to an online survey conducted by Yoshiki Tominaga, a professor at Hyogo University of Teacher Education in Hyogo, Japan, due to discrimination and stigma, around 11 percent of people said they would not go for a checkup even if they contacted the virus and got infected.

Mental health courses could help eliminate discrimination and stigma brought by the virus which would help stop coronavirus from further spreading, Tominaga said at the forum.

To provide psychological aid in time, Zhu Tingshao, a researcher at the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, urged to take full advantage of AI and big data that could analyze people’s mental states automatically and alter the emergency.

Since some people may find it hard to express their suffering verbally, the arts such as dance and movement could be an effective way for them to work with unspeakable trauma and build resilience, according to Ilene A. Serlin, former president of the San Francisco Psychological Association and a licensed psychologist.

Besides, because of social distance and quarantines, the pandemic has disrupted many face-to-face mental health therapies which required healthcare professionals to use online platforms to deliver services, Serlin said, but it would prompt the world to consider expanding reach of services into new global networks of healing.

China has attached great importance to offering mental health services to its people which have been included in many State-level documents. It has helped boost a positive attitude across the country, Xin Zhiqiang, a professor at the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, said.