Identifying high-risk individuals for suicide during COVID-19 pandemic: Prevention and intervention

Background: The mental health outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) might be hazardous and may evoke a tsunami of mental illness. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has profound psychological and social effects. It has been expected that the mental illnesses and suicide rates may rise not only due to the suffering of the pandemic itself but also to prolonged combat strategies, including lockdown and quarantine over a longer period. It is henceforth important to identify potential risk factors for developing risk prevention strategies with urgent consideration.

Materials and Methods: A systematic review approach was employed to collect information regarding the high-risk individuals for suicide during a pandemic and subsequently present the prevention and intervention-focused strategies for managing the condition. The article published just after the pandemic outbreak including the time period: 2019 to 2020 available at PubMed, PsycINFO, and LISTA, was considered for the present study.

Results: The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with solitude, agony, anxiety, fear of infection, depression, insomnia, and economic complications. These conditions may subsequently lead to complex psychiatric complaints in vulnerable populations, including individuals with pre-existing psychiatric disorders, those having a history of suicide attempts, and those taking treatment for suicide risk.

Conclusion: To decrease the risk of suicides during COVID-19, reducing people’s stress, anxiety, and loneliness is important.  Specialized training in the workforce on crisis management would have additional benefits. Governments shall devote adequate funding and resources to control the mental health consequences of the pandemic.