COVID-19 and Anxiety: A Review of Psychological Impacts of Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Context: The advent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused confusion, changed people’s living conditions, including commuting restrictions, fear of disease transmission, and closure of schools and businesses, and brought about devastating psychological impacts, like anxiety. However, most studies only have focused on clinical data. Evidence Acquisition: In this short review, the psychological effects of COVID-19 and its association with anxiety were examined. Accordingly, the electronic databases, including PubMed, Medline, Elsevier, and Science Direct were reviewed for relevant studies that have conducted since 2007. Results: The current study was carried out to indicate that COVID-19 has negative psychological problems other than mortality. A review of the studies performed in other parts of the world showed that COVID-19 has caused several psychological impacts, including increased anxiety. Conclusions: By an increase in the prevalence rate of COVID-19 and its resulted restrictions, the level of anxiety increases, as well; therefore, raising public awareness of the disease and providing positive psychological programs in the media aimed at controlling stress can reduce anxiety in society.