Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Essentials

Authors

Brietzke, Elisa M Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University School of Medicine; Attending Psychiatrist, Inpatient Unit, Kingston Health Sciences Centre; Attending Psychiatrist, Mood Disorders Research and Treatment Unit, Providence Care Hospital, Kingston, ON, Canada. Elisa Brietzke is a Psychiatrist and Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of Queen's University School of Medicine in Kingston, ON, Canada. She is attending psychiatrist at the Inpatient Unit from Kingston General Hospital and at Mood Disorders Research and Treatment Unit at Providence Care Hospital, both in Kingston, ON, Canada. Dr. Brietzke is also a member of the Centre for Neuroscience Studies (CNS) at Queen's University. She is a member of the Board of Councillors from the International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD). The focus of her research is neurobiology and innovative interventions on mood disorders. She was awarded by a L'Oreal For Women in Science Award 2015 for her work on premature aging and inflammation in mood disorders. McIntyre, Roger S. Head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at the University Health Network and Full Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pharmacology of the University of Toronto, ON, Canada. Dr. McIntyre co-authored more than 600 Peer-reviewed articles on mood disorders and mental health. He also holds positions as Director of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Chicago, Illinois, USA; professor and Nanhan Scholar, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China, Adjunct Professor College of medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Clinical professor State University of New York (SUNY), Upstate Medical University, Syracure, New York, USA and Clinical professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences University of California School of Medicine, Riverside, California, USA. He collaborates with researchers from more than 25 countries and delivers more than 2000 speeches/year on mood disorders neurobiology and treatment. During the COVI9-19 outbreak, Dr. McIntyre's work is focused on investigate the effect of social media exposure in mental health, the effect of the pandemic in mental health of healthcare professionals, and the mental health consequences of the economic impact of the pandemic. Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo Associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry and member of the Brain Institute at Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. He is also the head of the Centre of Studies and Research in Stress and Trauma at the same institution. He cu-authored more than 140 indexed peer-reviewed articles, most of them focused on the effect of stress and trauma in cognition and addictive behaviors. He systematically collaborates with researchers from 4 continents, especially from Australia, Italy and United States. Dr. Grassi-Oliveira conducted the largest online survey on COVID-19 related mental health problems in South America and has been dedicated to understand the impact of the pandemic in suicidality and use of substances. Kangguang, Lin Deputy Director of The Department of Affective Disorders, the Affiliated Brain Hospital Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.. Dr. Kanguang is involved in multiple research endeavours which primarily aim to characterize the early development of mood disorders and bipolar disorders in particular. His works also aim to characterize the underlying causes of cognitive