Psychological Morbidity amongst Pandemic Survivors: A Literature Review

Background: Infectious disease outbreaks have been an emerging concern over the centuries due to their high mortality rates, socioeconomic and psychological effects. The prevalence of psychological morbidities amongst survivors tend to last well beyond the resolution phase. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the latest pandemic outbreak with over 188 countries affected and 953,989 deaths globally. A future pandemic outbreak remains a tangible possibility, and preparations to minimise its effects on physical health and socioeconomic well-being need to be considered. In addition, psychological disorders need to also be kept in consideration.

Objective: The aim of this literature review is to explore the relationship present between psychological morbidity and pandemic outbreaks amongst survivors by analysing a number of relevant research papers.

Method: A Science Direct and Google Scholar search was conducted using the keywords “psychological morbidity” OR “psychological effects”, “pandemic” OR “infectious disease outbreaks”, and “survivors”. Articles were deemed acceptable if they were in the English language, were full text articles, and included an abstract. The search was limited to the years 2005-2019 and to only articles which explicitly investigated the long-term psychological impacts on pandemic survivors. Articles on the current COVID-19 pandemic were excluded.

Results: A total of 12 papers was examined. 6 articles explored psychological morbidity amongst SARS survivors. 4 articles covered the Ebola crisis of 2013-2016 and 2 articles investigated the psychological effects of the MERS outbreak. Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and stigmatization were the most explored symptoms of psychological morbidity amongst survivors.

Conclusion: From this literature review it is clear to see that psychological morbidities are prevalent amongst pandemic survivors. These psychological sequalae can last for many months post resolution. Given the dearth of literature available on the long-term psychological morbidity on the general population, this review is useful in highlighting the need for further study.