Mental Health Effects of COVID-19

Dr. Ahmed Moustafa is a Professor of Psychology and Computational Modeling at School of Psychology, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Prior to moving to Bond University, Ahmed was an associate professor in Psychology and Neuroscience at Marcs Institute for Brain, Behavior, and Development & School of Psychology, Western Sydney University. Ahmed is trained in computer science, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. His early training took place at Cairo University in mathematics and computer science. Before joining Western Sydney University as a lab director, Ahmed spent 11 years in America working on several psychology and neuroscience projects. Ahmed conducts research on computational and neuropsychological studies of addiction, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD, depression, Alzheimer’s disease. He has published over 240 papers in high-ranking journals including Science, PNAS, Journal of Neuroscience, Brain, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Nature (Parkinson’s disease), Neuron, among others. Ahmed has obtained grant funding from Australia, USA, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, and other countries. Ahmed has recently published ten books: (1) Computational models of brain and behavior; (2) Social Cognition in Psychosis, (3) computational Neuroscience Models of the Basal Ganglia, (4) Cognitive, Clinical, and Neural Aspects of Drug Addiction; (5) The Nature of Depression: An updated review; (6) Big data in psychiatry and neurology; (7) Alzheimer’s Disease: Understanding Biomarkers, Big Data, and Therapy. Elsevier; (8) Cognitive and Behavioral Dysfunction in Schizophrenia; (9) Female Pioneers from Ancient Egypt and the Middle East; and (10) Mental health effects of COVID-19. In the last 10 years, Ahmed has published collaboratively with 71 colleagues, has more than 510 co-authors, from 35 institutions in 14 countries. Ahmed is now Editor-in-Chief of Discover Psychology, a new journal by Springer Nature.

Part I - Impact of COVID-19 on mental health
1. COVID-19 and the impact on gambling, sex, and pornography use and addictions
Anastasia Hronis and Patrick Dixon
2. Care leavers’ experiences of COVID-19 in Uganda and Ghana: Implications for their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing
Paul Bukuluki, Kwabena Frimpong-Manso, and Francis Kato
3. The impact of COVID-19 on mental health of frontline health workers in Ghana and Uganda
Simon Peter Katongole, Peter Yaro, and Paul Bukuluki
4. The psychosocial effect of COVID-19 on urban refugees: Narratives from Congolese refugees living in Kampala
Paul Bukuluki, Hadijah Mwenyango, Francis Kato, Agnes Kyamulabi, and Alex Bagabo
5. Psychological distress, social support, and psychological flexibility during COVID-19
Richard Tindle and Ahmed A. Moustafa
6. The impact of COVID-19 social restrictions on culture and psychosocial well-being: The Ghanaian experience
Alfred Dickson Dai-Kosi, Victoria Akuorkor Acquaye, Kingsley Kwadwo Asare Pereko, Paa-Kwesi Blankson, and Christian Ackom
7. "Alone, but not lonely": The impact of COVID-19 on older persons and the role of technology in staying connected
Ceylan Okan, Gabrielle Weidemann, and Phoebe E. Bailey
8. Social isolation as a laboratory model of depression
Gunes Unal
9. Increased hallucinations in patients with Alzheimer’s disease during the Covid-19 lockdown: A presentation of two cases
Mohamad El Haj and Frank Larøi
10. Eating disorders during a coronavirus pandemic
Samantha Hayes and Evelyn Smith
11. Obsessive-compulsive disorder during and after Covid-19 pandemic
Anil Safak Kaçar

Part II - Recent topics on impact of COVID-19 on health
12. The role of nutrition in respiratory disease and COVID-19 management
Kingsley Kwadwo Asare Pereko, Enock Dugbatey Mensah, Victoria Akuorkor Acquaye, Christiana Nsiah-Asamoah, Flora Chadare, Freda Dzifa Intiful, Jacob Setorglo, Nancy Innocentia Ebu, and Alfred Dickson Dai-Kosi
13. Physical activity as a counteracting measure to mitigate the harmful effects of COVID-19 lockdowns: Special focus on healthy children, adolescents, adults, elderly, athletes, and people with Down syndrome
Monoem Haddad, Zied Abbes, Amine Ghram, Germina Cosma, and Karim Chamari
14. Parenting through the COVID-19 pandemic
Natalie M.V. Morrison and Ben. W. Morrison
15. Compliance with health-protective behaviors in relation to COVID-19: The roles of health-related misinformation, perceived vulnerability, and personality traits
Zahir Vally
16. Social media use, experiences of social connectedness and wellbeing during COVID-19
Jacqui Taylor-Jackson, Imogen Abba, Alessandra Baradel, Jeremy Lay, Jasmin Herewini, and Amber Taylor
17. Cognitive behavior therapy for COVID-19 related distress
Karen Moses and Bethany M. Wootton