Psychological Effects of Corona-virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)

 

Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19):

Coronavirus spread speedily across the world. 

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was firstly identified in December-2019 in China City Wuhan. And its spread firstly in China then, afterwards throughout the world.

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic:

The coronavirus pandemic is an epidemiological and psychological disaster. 

The viciousness of living in isolation, changes in our daily lives, job loss, financial hardship and grief over the death of love ones have the potential to affect the mental health and well-being of man.

It’s a very life-threatening to search for connection and social support with others.

Social distancing can make people feel lonely and isolated and can raise stress and anxiety. However, these actions are essential to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

 Coping with stress in a healthy the way will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.

Many psychological problems and significant consequences in terms of mental health including;

• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Frustration
• Uncertainty

Stress during this pandemic cause;

• Fear and worry about health and the health of loved ones,  financial situation or job, or loss of support services rely on.
• Changes in sleep or eating patterns.
• Difficulty sleeping or concentrating.
• Worsening of chronic health problems.
• Worsening of mental health condition. 

Signs of Anxiety:

• Stubborn worry or feeling overwhelmed by emotions.
• Difficulty concentrating, sleep problems and generally feeling on edge
• Restlessness and irritability.

Extreme worry about a number of concerns, such as health problems or finances, and a general sense that something bad is going to happen.                                                                                                                              

Signs of Depression:

• Deficiency of interest and pleasure in daily activities.
• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide.
• Deficiency of energy or an inability to concentrate. 
• Insomnia or unnecessary sleeping.
• Significant weight loss or gain.
• Feelings of worthlessness or extreme guilt.

Risk Factor of Suicide:

• Changes in personality like sadness, withdrawal, irritability or anxiety.
• Erratic behaviour, harming self or others.
• A conversation about dying or harming oneself.
• Changes in behaviour, sleep patterns and eating habits.
• Recent loss through death, divorce, separation, even loss of interest in friends, hobbies and activities previously enjoyed.
• No hope for the future, believing things will never get better or nothing will change.
• Low self-esteem including feelings of worthlessness, guilt or self-hatred.

Phobia,Symptoms, Causes,Types, Treatment

People with a specific phobia, though, has developed an extreme fear of a particular object, activity, or situation which is out of proportion with the actual level of threat posed. People with a specific phobia with the actual level of threat posed. People with a specific phobia will actively avoid the feared object or situation, and experience a high level of anxiety if it is encountered.

What is Phobia?

Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as “a phobia is an irrational and excessive fear of an object or situation”. Mostly phobia involves a sense of endangerment or fear of harm.

For example;                                                                                                            

Those with agoraphobia fear being trapped in an inescapable place or situation.

Phobia Symptoms:

Symptoms of Phobia can occur through experience/exposure to the feared object or situation. Symptoms include;

• Breathlessness
• Dizziness, trembling, and increased heart rate
• Fear of dying
• Nausea
• Preoccupation with the feared object
• A sense of unreality

Specific phobia is characterized by;

An intense fear or anxiety linked to a definite object, activity, or situation which is out of proportion with the degree of danger actually postured.

Active efforts to avoid the feared object, activity or situation (e.g., taking the stairs to avoid going in an elevator).

Causes of Phobia:

In the development of Phobia number of factors has been associated, these include;

• Genetic Factor
• Direct Learning
• Indirect Learning
• Unhelpful Thoughts
• Avoidance

Let’s discuss above mentioned causes of Phobia.

Genetic Factors:

People with a family history of situational phobias, animal phobias, and blood phobia, injection phobia, and injury phobias have a higher chance of evolving the phobia than those without a family history.

Direct Learning:

Several phobias (particularly those connected to animals, injections, and enclosed-spaces) occur following a negative experience.

For Example, A person may develop a phobia of dogs after having been bitten by a dog.

Indirect Learning:

A Person may become terrible of a particular object or situation after perceiving another person’s fearful response to that same object or situation.

Unhelpful Thoughts:

 Unhelpful thoughts such as overestimating the chance of harm or improper beliefs about the consequences of confronting a feared object/situation is also thought to add to the continued experience of a phobia.

Avoidance: 

Avoidance is a common behavioral reaction to a definite phobia as it permits people to avoid feelings of fear and anxiety. However, avoidance prevents chances to learn to challenge fearful beliefs and develop effective coping skills to accomplish anxiety. As a result, specific phobia is sustained and not overcome.

Categories of Phobia:

Phobia Classify into three categories which are;

1.      Specific Phobia 
2.       Agoraphobia  
3.       Social Phobia

Specific Phobia:

     Specific Phobia comprises, fear of a specific object. For Example, Snake, butterfly, and moth, the fear of butterflies and moths are called lepidopterophobia. Mottephobia, or the fear of moths alone is closely related to this phobia.

Such phobias usually fall into four different categories:

Situational 

Animals

Medical

Natural Environmental.

A few examples of common fear objects include spiders, dogs, needles, natural disasters, heights, and flying.

Agoraphobia:               

This defines as a fear of being confined in an inescapable place or situation. As an outcome, the phobic individual may begin to avoid such situations. In some cases, this fear can become so persistent and irresistible that the individual even fears to leave their home.

Social Phobias:

A fear of social situations include an extreme and pervasive fear of social situations. In several cases, this fear may center on a very particular type of social situation such as public speaking. In other instances, people may fear to accomplish any task in front of other people for fear that they will be somehow publicly humiliated.

Phobia Treatment:

  Exposure Therapy

       Cognitive Therapy

        Medication

        Hypnotherapy

Exposure Therapy:

Exposure therapy is considered the best effective treatment for specific phobias. In this therapy, the person confronts the feared object or situation without engaging in any avoidance or escape behaviors. By encouraging people to face their fears, it is thought that exposure therapy teaches a person that feelings of anxiety decrease naturally over time and that the feared consequences of a phobic object or situation are unlikely to occur.

The most effective form of exposure therapy is in vivo exposure.

In-Vivo Exposure:

This therapy conducted in a controlled environment and comprises directly opposing the person’s fear through a series of activities which provoke increasing levels of fear and anxiety. For Example:

 A person with a phobia of dogs may, first decide to approach a dog on a leash, then proceed to pat a dog on the head, then allow a dog to lick his/her hand, and eventually go to a dog park. A person usually undergoes exposure therapy until the most anxiety-provoking the situation has been successfully mastered.

Cognitive Therapy:

Cognitive therapy involves helping the person to identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts. This technique might be used alone or in conjunction with exposure therapy.

Medication:

Anti-depressants and Anti-anxiety medication can help calm emotional and physical reactions to fear. Often, a combination of medication and professional therapy is the most helpful.

Hypnotherapy:

Through this hypnotherapy, the basic cause of the phobia may be uncovered. The phobia may be caused by a past event that the person does not remember, a phenomenon known as repression. The mind represses traumatic memories from the conscious mind until the person is ready to deal with them. Hypnotherapy may also exclude the conditioned responses that occur during different situations.

 

 

 

 

 

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

 

What is Sexual Abuse?

Sexual abuse is any form of sexual Violence including

·         Rape

·         Child Molestation

·         Incest

·         Non-Consensual Sexual Contact

·         Non-Contact Sexual Abuse

Let’s Talk about these Forms and then discuss the psychological effects of child sexual abuse

     RAPE:

Rape is forced sexual contact with someone who doesn’t or cannot permit.  

CHILD MOLESTATION:

Child molestation is any sexual interaction, connection with a child. Molested children are too young to know what is happening with them and they don’t fight back. Abusers use child collaboration in some cases as evidence that no one harmed. For Example, Child molestation might include massaging, touching, or demanding sexual favors from a child.

INCEST:

Frequently Incest happens as child abuse. Over a third of American sexual assault survivors under the age of 18 are abused by a family member, according to the latest statistics. However, incest is an underreported crime, so the definite number of incest survivors may be higher.

NON-CONSENSUAL SEXUAL CONTACT:

This kind of sexual abuse includes unwanted touching, for example, groping or pinching. Attempted rape can also fall into this type.

NON-CONTACT SEXUAL ABUSE:          

Not all sexual abuse fits neatly into common legal or psychological definitions. For instance, parents who have sex in front of their children or who make sexually inappropriate comments to their children are engaging in sexual abuse. So-called revenge pornography sites, which publish nude photos of people without their consent, are another form of sexual abuse

 Psychological Effects

Immediate Psychological Consequences:

Fear             Grief

Shock        Denial

Anxiety     Nervousness

Guilt          Withdrawal

Confusion   Isolation

SHORT AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS

Childhood sexual abuse is known to be a major risk factor in the development of long term social and psychological adjustment problems.  These problems can carry over into adulthood, and also affect marital life as well as parenthood.

Long Term Effects:

There are many long-term effects of child sexual abuse but some most worrying that can cause long term psychological damage. Childhood sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual problems, and relationship problems.

The most common long-term symptom among survivors is depression.  Survivors may have difficulty in externalizing the abuse, thus thinking negatively about themselves.

Survivors frequently experience guilt, shame, and self-blame. It has been shown that survivors often take personal responsibility for the abuse.

Survivors tend to exhibit more self-destructive behaviors and experience more suicidal ideation than those who have not been abused.

Body issues and eating disorders have also been mentioned as a long-term effect of childhood sexual abuse. Symptoms of child sexual abuse survivors’ body image problems to be related to feeling dirty or ugly, dissatisfaction with body or appearance, eating disorders, and obesity. Survivors’ distress may also result in somatic concerns.

Stress and anxiety are often long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse can be frightening and cause stress long after the experience or experiences have terminated.

Many survivors experience sexual difficulties. Symptoms that often result from experiences of sexual abuse: “avoiding, fearing, or lacking interest in sex; approaching sex as an obligation; experiencing negative feelings such as anger, disgust, or guilt with touch; having difficulty becoming aroused or feeling sensation; feeling emotionally distant or not present during sex; experiencing intrusive or disturbing sexual thoughts and images; engaging in compulsive or inappropriate sexual behaviors; experiencing difficulty establishing or maintaining an intimate relationship; experiencing vaginal pain or orgasmic difficulties (women); and experiencing erectile, ejaculatory, or orgasmic difficulties

Other Long-term Consequences:

Depending on their age, victims of child sexual abuse are also at greater risk of experiencing the following consequences:

Neurobiological changes       

Depressive symptoms

Developmental delays           

Anxiety, fear, distrust of others

Anger, aggression       

Maladjustment in school

Sexual behavior problems  

Social isolation behavior

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder Somatic problems (e.g. enuresis)

Behavior problems

Dissociative symptoms

Low self-esteem

Studies have shown that children who experience sexual abuse tend to recover quicker and with better results if they have a supportive, caring adult (ideally a parent) consistently in their life.

FOUR D'S IN PSYCHOLOGY

FOUR D'S IN PSYCHOLOGY

Firstly we talk about abnormal behavior. 

There are two primary definitions psychologists use to classify behavior as abnormal including.

Atypical Behavior: 

Behavior that deviates from the norms of society, a behavior seen as being different or weird, not necessarily harmful to self or others, just deviant- the definition most people in society use to define behavior as being abnormal

Maladaptive Behavior:  

Behavior that is potentially harmful to oneself or to others, not just physically harmful, but also emotionally harmful to the well-being of a person or others, not necessarily deviant, but definitely potentially harmful, the definition most clinicians are concerned about, they are more interested in the client's mental and physical well-being than whether or not a behavior is weird.

THE FOUR D'S

Although many definitions of abnormality have been proposed over the year, none is universally accepted (Mechanic.1999). Still, most of the definitions have certain features in common, often called “the four D’s”.

The Four D’s are;   

        i.  Deviance

       ii.  Distress

       iii. Dysfunction

       iv.  Danger

DEVIANCE:

Abnormal psychological functioning is deviant, but deviant from what? Behavior, thoughts, and emotions are different from those that are considered normal in our place and time.

 Behavior, thoughts and emotions are deemed abnormal when they violet a society’s idea about proper functioning.

       Each society establishes norms- explicit and implicit rules for proper conduct. Behavior that violates legal norms is called criminal. Behavior, thoughts, and emotions that violate norms of psychological functioning are called abnormal.

     Judgments of abnormality varies from society to society.

      A society’s norms grow from its particular culture- its history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts. A society whose culture places great values on competition and assertiveness may accept aggressive behavior, where one that emphasizes cooperation and gentleness may discourage aggressive behavior and even condemn it as abnormal.

     Judgments of abnormality also depend on the specific circumstances as well as on cultural norms.

     A society’s values may also change over time, causing its views of psychologically abnormal to change as well.                                                     

      For example:                                                                                                                                              In Western society, a women’s participation in the business world was widely considered inappropriate and strange a hundred years ago. Today the same behavior is usually admired.

  DISTRESS:

According to many clinical theorists, behavior, ideas or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can be labeled abnormal. A person behavior may be classified as disordered if it causes him or her great distress.

Ø  Distressing means unpleasant and upsetting to the person

Ø  The individual subjective feeling of pain, anxiety, depression, agitation, disturbance in sleep loss of appetite numerous aches and pains.

   “You are considered abnormal if you are distressed”

 

Are we all abnormal depending on this definition?

What this means is that if we feel “subjective feeling of pain” we all qualify as being abnormal?

This definition alone could apply to most of us in this class.

  “Feeling subjective pain” generally leads to a doctor prescribing medication that might not address or solve the problem.

For example:

                    Women wish that she had a pill that would stop her husband from cheating or divorcing her. Or that made her kids do their homework.

DYSFUNCTION

Abnormal behavior tends to be dysfunctional; that is, it interferes with daily functioning. It so upsets, distracts, or confuses people that they cannot care for themselves properly, participate in ordinary social interactions, or work productively.

DSM the definition provides, a broader concept of dysfunction, which is supported by our current body of evidence. Specifically, the DSM definition of the dysfunction refers to the fact that

            “The behavioral, psychological, and biological dysfunctions are all interrelated. That is, the brain impacts our behavior, and behavior impacts the brain; thus dysfunction in these is interrelated”.

For example:  An individual quits his job, leaves his family, and prepares to withdraw from a productive and meaningful life in order to live in an empty isolated a distant apartment where he feels comfortable and satisfied. So this dysfunctional behavior indicates psychological abnormality.

DANGER

Psychological dysfunction is behavior that becomes dangerous to oneself or others. Individuals whose behavior is consistently careless, hostile, or confused may place themselves or those around them at risk.

Danger consists of two broad themes:

          a) Danger to self

          b) Danger to others

The danger is often cited as a feature of abnormal psychological functioning, research suggests that it is actually the exception rather than the rule.

Despite popular misconceptions, most people struggling with anxiety, depression thinking poses no immediate danger to themselves or to anyone else