
COVID-19 Pandemic and Uptake in Suicide Attempt Among Young People of Minority Population: A Case Series
Author(s) -
Chiedozie Ojimba,
Terrence Tumenta,
Amod Thanju,
Kenneth Oforeh,
Joy Osaji,
Amal Saha,
Leon Valbrun
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of medical cases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1923-4163
pISSN - 1923-4155
DOI - 10.14740/jmc3594
Subject(s) - medicine , psychosocial , pandemic , isolation (microbiology) , depression (economics) , psychiatry , anxiety , population , social isolation , mental health , covid-19 , disease , environmental health , infectious disease (medical specialty) , macroeconomics , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , economics , biology
The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan China on December 31, 2019. COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. To reduce the spread of this virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended self and mandatory quarantine of exposed individuals and self-isolation. However, the psychological impact of this pandemic includes new onset or worsening of existing mental illnesses which include but are not limited to anxiety, depression from social isolation, eating disorders, and uptake in suicidality either in isolation or part of mental illness symptomatology. In the USA, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 - 34 years while globally, it is the second cause of death among people aged 15 - 29 years. The authors present a case of two young women of minority population with no prior psychiatric illnesses who presented to the psychiatry emergency room with suicidal attempts due to COVID-19 pandemic-related psychosocial stressors.