ISTSS 37th Annual Meeting

Trauma in Context: Moving Beyond the Individual

VIRTUAL

November 2 – 5, 2021

Pre-Meeting Institutes: November 1

Symposium

Psychosocial Approaches to the COVID-19 Outbreak in South ‎Korea ‎

Overview: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Korean people have suffered from social limitations and financial problems as well as the disease itself. Mental health professional groups including the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (KSTSS) have responded to help the people under huge stress and trauma that stemmed from this new and offensive virus. Firstly, we have tried to understand this new pandemic with the ecological perspective in order to find the ways to cope with the disaster comprehensively (Presentation 1). To obtain the exact information on the mental health status of South Korea that has been affected by the COVID-19, we have conducted 4 nationwide surveys. We obtained the concrete evidence of significant psychosocial complications due to the COVID-19. Based on the survey data, we tried to make care programs and to build tailored systems that are optimized to the present situation of South Korea (Presentation 2). Hence, we started to develop guidelines on psychosocial care for infectious disease management. The comprehensive information targeted people from diverse backgrounds has been distributed via both online and offline (Presentation 3). To support the COVID-19 victims, the integrated psychosocial support group that consists of mental health professionals from the public and private sectors, mostly the members of the KSTSS, has collaborated with the National Center for Disaster Trauma. The group provided with integrating mental health services including 24-hour hotline services, tele-counseling, high-risk screening for mental health, and outreach programs for isolated facilities (Presentation 4).
Learning Objectives:

• COVID-19
• Mental health
• Nationwide approach

Track: Pub Health

Development of Comprehensive Guidelines on Psychosocial Care for ‎Infectious Disease Management

Presented by: Chan-Seung Chung
Overview: The chaos brought about by a disaster requires a proven and agreed-upon way of healing and recovery. A team of multidisciplinary specialists joined their efforts to publish the guidelines on psychosocial care for infectious disease management. The primary concern of mental health guidelines for disaster management so far has been to teach people affected by a disaster on how to respond. The guidelines we present contain concrete and all-encompassing practical directions for victims and families, vulnerable groups, friends and acquaintances, communities, disaster workers, specialists, faith-based communities, the media, the general public, and the government to prevent and heal the emotional pain caused by the epidemic. The guidelines include twenty-eight topics covering different target groups, interests, issues, and stages. They contain results agreed upon through a thorough review of literature, research, intense discussion, and the clinical experience of specialists. Helping those suffering from an infectious disease is not the sole responsibility of one person; we all must help. We are all suffering and healing individuals. Our minds, diverse and variegated as they may be, can be united as one collective mind to help each other – as long as each of us decides, epidemics will disappear and leave no scars in our minds.
Track: Clinical Interventions
Region: Global
SIG Subject Matter Focus: Pub Health, Dissemination and Implementation SIG, Early ‎Interventions SIG, Lifestyle Interventions for Traumatic Stress (LIFTS) ‎SIG, Trauma, Health and Primary Care SIGLifespan, Global‎

Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic as the Socio-‎Ecological Disaster: On the Korean Population

Presented by: Hanson Park, Jong-Woo PAIK
Overview: COVID-19 is not just an infectious disease, but also an anthropological phenomenon that has a wide range of collateral effects on the mental health and social psychology on mankind. Generally, it is well-known that epidemics of infectious diseases have various effects on human mental health, especially maladaptive emotional reactions and maladaptive behavioural reactions. From September 2020, more than 30 researchers from 10 universities and hospitals conducted multi-group, multi-center, multi-level, and multi-disciplinary studies on the mental health and psychosocial effects of COVID-19 in the Korean population. More than 2000 subjects responded to the questionnaire, and dozens of subjects took one-on-one interviews. And then, Psychiatric, psychosocial, and anthropological analyzes were conducted in-depth on the base of these findings. In this presentation, I would like to briefly summarize the research results and discuss the potential psychiatric and psychosocial impacts that should be of interest in current COVID-19 pandemic. Also, based on these results, I will discuss what psychiatric and psychosocial intervention strategies are needed and effective in the uncoming novel infectious disease outbreak. Finally, I propose an neuro-anthropological insight into various maladaptive emotions and behavioral responses.
Track: Biology and Medical
Region: E Asia & Pac
SIG Subject Matter Focus: Bio Med, Complex Trauma SIGProf, E Asia & Pac‎

National Trends and Patterns in Mental Health Among Korean Adults ‎During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Presented by: Jinhee Hyun, Sunju Sohn, Heeguk Kim, Jinyong Jun, Jong-Sun Lee, Jong-Woo PAIK, Ki Hyun Kim, Seokjoo Kim, Yun-Kyeung Choi, Yu-Ri Lee
Overview: The aim of this study was to advise national policies and services for mental health and psychosocial support by exploring the mental health statuses among adults in South Korea within the context with COVID-19 spread and social distancing. Using the COVID-19 related fear scale, GAD-7, PHQ-9, gender as well as age group differences were also examined on the level of anxiety, depression, and COVID-19 related fear, in addition to performing descriptive statistics analysis of frequency, mean, standard deviation etc. In 2020, a total of four national surveys were conducted on Korean adults between the ages of 19 and 70. Stratified sampling was applied to collect a nationally representative sample. Major findings from four points of data analyses are as follows: First, the COVID-19 related fear increased with the prolonged COVID-19 circumstances. Second, the anxiety level tends to fluctuate throughout the year. Third, people at risk for depression tend to increase with prolonged COVID-19. The level of depression in the 20’s and 30’s were generally higher than that of other age groups. Based on research findings, we emphasize the importance of providing necessary mental health and psychosocial services at the national level.
 Key Words: COVID-19, Korean National Mental Health Survey, Fear, Anxiety, Depression
Learning Objectives:

• This study address anxiety issues in COVID-19.
• This study address depression issues in COVID-19.
• This study propose future direction for psychosocial support and mental health services.

Track: Assessment and Diagnosis
Region: E Asia & Pac
SIG Subject Matter Focus: Pub Health, Early Interventions SIG, Gender and Trauma SIG, Trauma ‎Assessment and Diagnosis SIGAdult, E Asia & Pac‎

Experiences of Integrated Psychological Support Group: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Patients, Their Families, and Isolated People

Presented by: Junghyun Lee, Minyoung Sim
Overview: The COVID-19 outbreak is one of the largest pandemics of this century. Integrating mental health service is an essential part of a government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In South Korea, the necessity for mental health service during disasters caused by infectious disease outbreaks had been emphasized by the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-nCOV) outbreak in 2015. Hence, the “Integrated Psychological Support Group for COVID-19” which falls under the auspice of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, had been set up to take charge of mental health services in January 2020. The National Center for Disaster Trauma (NCT) plays a central role in managing this governmental organization and has provided psychological support services. This session will detail some of the experiences of integrating mental health services, including 24-hour hotline services, tele-counseling, high-risk screening for mental health, and outreach programs for isolated facilities. Additionally, we will present the notable results of analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, collected while carrying out these services, from COVID-19 patients, their families, and quarantined people. We will address the barriers facing service utilization and recovery, including valuable lessons learned in enhancing preparedness for mental health support to COVID-19 victims.
Track: Clinical Interventions
Region: E Asia & Pac