Mental health & COVID-19

Fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So it is normal and understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Added to the fear of contracting the virus in a pandemic such as COVID-19 are the significant changes to our daily lives as our movements are restricted in support of efforts to contain and slow down the spread of the virus. Faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is important that we look after our mental, as well as our physical, health.

WHO, together with partners, is providing guidance and advice during the COVID-19 pandemic for health workers, managers of health facilities, people who are looking after children, older adults, people in isolation and members of the public more generally, to help us look after our mental health.

Further materials relating to looking after our mental health during the COVID pandemic will be added to this page as they become available.

You can also follow @WHO on our social media channels for the latest information.


For the general public

Actions for Heroes, a guide for heart-to-heart chats with children to accompany reading of My Hero is you, How kids can fight COVID-19

 

WHO-supported publications

The Inter-Agency Steering Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings was established in 2007 to plan, establish and coordinate multisectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in humanitarian emergency situations. It is a collaboration between the UN, other international agencies, nongovernmental organizations and academies and is co-chaired by WHO and the International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.