Supporting Children With Autism Through the Coronavirus Crisis

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that have endangered the lives of many people with several outbreaks throughout history. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) recently caused a pandemic [1]. It began in China from December 2019, and by now it has affected 201 countries, more than 37,423,660 people worldwide, and claimed the lives of more than 1,074,817 people. The pandemic of COVID-19 has a devastating effect on the physical and mental health, besides the social life and world economy; therefore, to improve the post-disaster status, maintaining mental health is essential. In any biological crisis, the most probable people’s emotional responses would be themes of fear, uncertainty, and stigmatization and these factors may impede suitable medical and mental health interventions. In addition, fear and distorted perception of risk will result in negative societal behaviors. The intensity of negative societal behaviors increases with the prolongation of the quarantine period [3]. As a result, it is possible that individuals experience a wide spectrum of general mental health concerns, such as distress reactions (anger, extreme fear of disease, and insomnia), health risk behaviors (social isolation, and the increased use of tobacco and alcohol), and mental health.