Psychologie und Psychiatrie: Open Access

Abstrakt

Quarantine and Social Isolation: Neuropsychological Effects According to Polyvagal Theory and Psychotraumatological Theory

Ernesto Mangiapane and Gabriella Ilse Viscuso

While the COVID-19 crisis still challenges the fabric of our society, let’s examine through our psychological science how this global trauma has affected and is affecting our mental and physical health, the way we perceive the world and the way we interact with the others. This contribution is part of the scientific landscape as an aid for understanding the social impact, aimed at interpreting the outcomes of the pandemic and creating models for predicting the psychosocial consequences itentails on the world scene. Many countries have applied quarantine measures for the containment of COVID-19, with more or less rigid protocols. The aim has been to protect our health and curb the contagion rate. The word quarantine (Venetian form for forty) describes the period of forced isolation used to limit the spread of an epidemic, which wasused for the first time by the Venetian republic in relation to the crews of ships arriving from possessions in Dalmatia. This special decree was issued to contain the black plague epidemic that raged in Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century. In fact, this provision required new arrivals to the lagoon city to spend a period of isolationin a place with limited access for the duration of forty days. If for all of usthisis a new and painful experience, the sedrastic containment measures have already been implemented many times in different historical periods. Even in recent times different countries have implemented the serestrictive provisions, such as several areas of China and Canada for the 2003 SARS epidemic. , some Africanvillages for the 2014 Ebola outbreak and beforeus the Chinese province of Hubei for the current Covid-19 epidemic.