key: cord-0922522-z3ly87zk authors: Kamran, Aziz; Naeim, Mahdi; Bagvand, Samira Ghobadi title: Effective recommendations for reducing anxiety and depression caused by COVID-19 outbreak in medical staff date: 2020-06-06 journal: Arch Psychiatr Nurs DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2020.06.003 sha: fa45f3a749ce6d24a9aecc234b64403113c97da6 doc_id: 922522 cord_uid: z3ly87zk nan J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f The pandemy of new coronavirus and its spread to other geographical areas has become a major concern for health care providers around the world in recent months after the outbreak in Wuhan, China (Zandifar, and Badrafam, 2020) . The number of patients around the world is increasing, and with the reporting of new cases in countries, there is a widespread fear and anxiety from this disease with its various unknown dimensions. Although the mortality rate of COVID-19 is lower than previous coronavirus such as Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the morbidity of the disease have increased the fear of the disease. (Banerjee, 2020) . However, COVID-19 has similarities with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV but the evidence showed that the speed of this newly identified virus spreads is greater than the previous two and it is more contagious in human-to-human transmission (Lee et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020). The reported common symptoms include "fever, cough, shortness of breath and respiratory problems and in more severe cases, pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, kidney failure", and even death are not unexpected (Huang et al., 2020) . There is currently no specific treatment for this disease. The main treatment includes symptomatic treatment and it includes the prevention of the complications of the disease and the special care of infected people, which is very effective. The incidence of confirmed cases has increased rapidly within a short period of time, with confirmed cases exceeding 80,000 and deaths reaching 2,912 by March 1, 2020 (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, Naeim, 2020), plus secondary infections, all of which have placed a huge burden and pressure on local prevention and treatment. At present, more than 30,000 medics from nationwide medical teams have supported Wuhan (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020), which has eased the pressure on local rescue work for treating critically ill patients with NCP. However, some medical workers have been seriously infected in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei Province, with over 3,000 medical staff having been confirmed of infection (Thompson, 2020) , which has greatly intensified the anxiety and depression caused by corona inevitably affect the treatment staff, and the psychological effects of this anxiety on the treatment staff reduce their ability. This anxiety and depression in the treatment staff may be seen as intermittent fear and even panic attacks, or they may be accompanied by physical symptoms such as shortness of breath and palpitations. In this case, if you do not pay attention to this issue and the psychologist and psychiatrist do not intervene, the person may progress to depression and even feel helpless and helpless in treating patients. Sometimes he/she becomes overly sensitive to his physical symptoms and misinterprets his physical symptoms. This anxiety is also passed on to family and other friends, and the person may experience tension with family and colleagues. in this case, this should be done professionally and using gentle methods. Employees should be instructed to refer to authoritative sources of information for statistics and information, because in stressful situations, the likelihood of people receiving rumors is higher. According to him, talking about your anxiety is J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f helpful to your friends, and you need to spend hours with your family away from cyberspace and avoid stressful situations. Physical activity and exercise can help control anxiety. this is not the first crisis to affect the treated staff, and in all crises, people can use the adaptive skills they have acquired in the past. If the psychological symptoms are severe and the employee's performance is reduced, you need to see a psychologist and psychiatrist for professional help.  At work, use simple methods to reduce your anxiety and depression; these include stretching and stretching exercises, outdoor walking, and deep breathing exercises.  Consult a sychologist and psychiatrist at times when you feel helpless.  Adequate sleep and healthy diet are essential to human health; taking time for a short rest in a place with less noise can be helpful.  Talking to colleagues about the topic can be helpful, and psychological review can help reduce anxiety and depression.  Follow recommendations and guidelines about transmitting the disease Help reduce your anxiety and anxiety and depression by following safety .  Use a happiness therapy approach at work  Take care of the mental health of our other colleagues; if you see any of the signs of anxiety and depression in your colleagues, you can support and accompany them.  Boost active listening skills and listen to each other.  Avoid seen images and movies of unfortunate and annoying scenes through virtual networks.  Refrain from expressing and disseminating false and unreliable news and information based on speculation about the number of patients and deaths in society, especially in virtual networks.  Encourage others to follow the recommendations for disease prevention and adher to them yourself. Public observance is essential for controlling the COVID-19 pandemy. The COVID-19 outbreak: Crucial role the psychiatrists can play The distribution of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak provides a unique platform to review behavioral changes in Iran. Asian journal of psychiatry, 51, 102090. Advance online publication Pandemic potential of 2019-nCoV. The Lancet Infectious Diseases None.