Psychological cost of COVID-19

The calamitous effects of COVID-19 pandemic spared no one globally, from affecting the health of the people to economic downturns affecting millions of people. For months that have felt like decades, the pandemic did not fail to make headlines every day of the week, highlighting its dire consequences. However, one such menace of this pandemic that is often overlooked and does not receive much attention is the psychological effects brought by this pandemic to the public.

The vast majority of the public are caught off-guarded when they were forced to make significant and abrupt changes in their daily life following the restricted movement orders that was imposed as a measure to contain the spread of the virus. Humans, as we know are social being, and being put in a situation which does not allow room for any social activities on top of being restricted at home puts an immense pressure on the mental health of the people. Being socially isolated increases the fear and vulnerability in humans, and this combined with financial and employment insecurities brought about by the pandemic leads to increasing anxiety and depression among the people.

How can you contribute back to the society during this dire period?

Many were hoping that the situation will be back to normal soon and that the virus will be contained successfully in a short period of time, however that is clearly not the case as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel at the time being. Whilst we are still hopeful for a vaccine to be discovered and tested soon, the number of mental health issues among public are rising at an alarming level and the number of suicide cases, especially among youths are also seemingly increasing.  In the year of 2019, the Social Welfare department saw a 300% increase from the previous year in people coming in for psychological and counselling services and the number is expected to grow even more exponentially this year. According to the Health Ministry’s Mental Health Unit, Malaysia is currently facing an alarming shortage in mental health professionals to help the ministry battle mental health problems among Malaysians especially that the psychological effect of the current pandemic is expected to last for many years.

This is a high time for students to consider their career options to contribute back to the society and their country and consider mental health professions as their choice.  With more and more students opting to continue their studies in mental health specializations such as psychology, we continue to hope for the best in winning our battle against mental health issues in Malaysia.

What Options Do You Have?

For students who are exploring their options to continue their education in the field of psychology, SEGi College offers Bachelor of Science in Psychology in Collaboration with TROY University, USA. In this program, students are able to get an international qualification at a local cost and be well prepared to continue their amazing journey as a mental health professional, both locally and internationally. Students are able to enrol directly into a Psychology degree program right after their SPM without going through foundations or diploma, thus saving their valuable time in obtaining their first degree. Students are also able to complete this world class degree locally without the need to transfer to US and the best of all is that SEGi flies down the professors from the US all the way to Malaysia to lecture on the core modules and to give students one of a lifetime experience.