Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of older adults: charting a road to recovery

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has etched itself into our memories as a disaster that shook the very ground on which we stood- a disaster that led to losses of every possible type. The impact of the pandemic has been evident in every aspect of life, be it at the level of socio-economic and political spheres or the more individual-centric level of health and wellbeing. The disaster-lifecycle is a circular process that begins with mitigation, leading to preparedness, response, and recovery, and circling back to mitigation (Warfield, undated blog). As the whole world tentatively emerges from this global pandemic, there seems to have been a disruption to the usual ‘disaster life cycle’, with most countries having skipped to the stages of restoration and recovery without having navigated the initial stages. This holds true for clinical services including mental health services. There has been no precedence for such severe interruption in service provision in recent memory, thus not much information is available on how to breathe life back into these much needed, life-sustaining services.