Effectiveness of Psychotherapy Interventions on the Mental Health of Children and Adults during COVID-19: A Systematic Review Meta-analysis

Background: Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate psychological interventions on COVID-19-related anxiety and depression. However, the literature review revealed no meta-anysis that has thoroughly reviewed the effects of psychological interventions on COVID-19-related anxiety and depression. Objectives: The present review aimed to examine the effectiveness of psychological interventions on anxiety and depression level during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: The search strategy was to screen the relevant original English clinical trials in the electronic databases of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus published from January 30, 2020 to March 5, 2022. Results: The number of studies included for anxiety, depression, and stress were three, four, and two, respectively. Based on the random effects model, the mean scores (95% confidence interval [CI]) of anxiety in the intervention group before and after the intervention were 13.29 (9.22, 17.35) and 6.89 (2.88, 10.90), respectively. Moreover, the mean scores (95% CI) of depression based on the random-effects model in the intervention group before and after the intervention were 9.86 (7.35, 12.36) and 9.13 (4.38, 7.89), respectively. The random effects model for stress was also calculated. The mean scores (95% CI) of stress before and after the intervention were 22.06 (11.43, 32.68) and 17.50 (8.64, 26.37) in the intervention group and 21.68 (12.21, 31.14) and 20.97 (4.65, 37.28) in the control group, respectively.  Conclusion: The results of this review study showed that psychological interventions during the COVID-19 outbreak might be effective and more practical for the improvement of resilience, hope, and spiritual health in order to enhance mental health.