Abstract - 9
The Visible Psychological Impact of the Invisible Virus (COVID-19)
Swapna Khajuria 1 , Musthafa Mohamed Essa 2,3,* Lene Søvold 4 , Saravana Babu Chidambaram 5 and M. Walid Qoronfleh 6,*
1 University of Calgary, 500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada, 2,* Department of Food Science and Nutrition, CAMS, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman, 3 Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman, 4 Clinical Psychology, Bygdøy Terrasse 27, 0287 Oslo, Norway, 5 Dept. of Pharmacology, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru, India, 6,* Research & Policy Department, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 5825,Doha, Qatar
*Corresponding authors: drmdessa@gmail.com & wqoronfleh@qf.org.qa
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the psychological welfare on the public health. It is well-known and experienced that the pandemic caused changes in lifestyle, social interactions, worklife etc. This paper aims to explore how the pandemic has affected different strata of society (children, migrant workers, factory workers, office staff, healthcare workers, women and elderly) on a psychological level. Aspects related to relationships, lack of human touch and coping strategies have also been looked at in this paper. The pandemic has hit various strata of society differently and a high number
of divorces and fallouts in the relationships have been reported during this time. Adverse effects of lack of human touch during isolation on the human psyche are evident. The reasons and effects of the ‘new normal’ have been explored as well as ways of adjusting to it.