Psychology, 2021, 12, 1211-1216 https://www.scirp.org/journal/psych ISSN Online: 2152-7199 ISSN Print: 2152-7180 DOI: 10.4236/psych.2021.128075 Aug. 6, 2021 1211 Psychology The Impact of Isolation on Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic Annekathryn Goodman Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Abstract The unintended consequences of appropriate public health interventions during an infectious disease outbreak such as isolation and quarantine of ex- posed individual include depression, anxiety, exacerbation of pre-existing mental illness, cardiovascular illness, and dementia. Populations that may be especially at risk for mental health consequences of isolation include children and adolescents, the elderly, people with cognitive disorders such as demen- tia, and those with preexisting psychiatric illness. Awareness of these dangers of necessary public health responses and allocation of resources for interven- tions when populations are under a lockdown should be a mandatory part of emergency planning. Keywords Isolation, Quarantine, Mental Health, Depression, Vulnerable Populations, Pandemic, COVID-19 1. Introduction All emergencies and disasters can lead to short and long-term mental health consequences. In a pandemic, one of the public health measures to protect indi- viduals and prevent the spread of disease is isolation of people who are exposed to the disease, and the use of quarantine. The terms of social distancing, isola- tion, lockdown, and quarantine pertain to those in the general population to prevent exposures to infectious disease, those who have had an exposure, and those who are actively infected. These measures can have the unintended con- sequence of causing emotional and mental distress. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health has been under-recognized and under-responded-to during the COVID-19 pandemic (WHO, 2021). Prior to the current pandemic, the burden of worldwide mental health conditions was high How to cite this paper: Goodman, A. (2021). The Impact of Isolation on Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Psychology, 12, 1211-1216. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2021.128075 Received: June 28, 2021 Accepted: August 3, 2021 Published: August 6, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access