[ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF THE CORONA PANDEMIC LOCKDOWNS IN 2020 ON THE AMOUNT AND NATURE OF REFERRALS FOR URGENT PSYCHIATRIC HELP IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AT THE ZIV MEDICAL CENTER].

Background: On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern and on March 11, 2020, it declared the Corona epidemic (COVID-19). Governments around the world have adopted a series of procedures to reduce the spread of the pandemic (eg, lockdowns, social distancing and isolation) affecting over half of the world's population. The population of the mentally challenged may be among the most vulnerable populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The study is a retrospective study. The information was extracted from existing medical files of patients in the "Ziv" Medical Center Emergency Department, who applied for psychiatric help in 2016 and in 2020. The data from the source documents was collected and processed through SPSS software.

Results: Data was received for about 958 patients who applied to the psychiatric emergency room in 2016 and for 1565 patients who applied in 2020.

Conclusions: The results of the study strengthen the hypothesis that the Corona epidemic (COVID-19) had a cumulative negative effect on mental health and caused dramatic consequences for the mental health of the population. An increase was observed in the number of patient applications to the psychiatric emergency room, including repeated referrals, referrals in more unusual situations such as accompanied by violence or suicidality, as well as an increase in the number of forced hospitalizations.