Knowledge mapping analysis of mental health research on COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: A bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 is conducted to examine the developmental context, research hotspots, and frontiers of mental health. METHODS: Using the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC), we have retrieved articles on mental health research related to COVID-19 which were published between 2019 and 2021. The coauthorship of countries, institutes, and authors was analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.17, and the co-citation map of authors/references was analyzed as well. CiteSpace version 5.8.R3 was used to analyze keyword clusters and forecast research frontiers. RESULTS: There were 8,856 articles retrieved, including 10,559 research institutes and 1,407 academic journals. The most published country and institutes were the United States (2190) and the University of London (373). Wang, Chengyu owned the highest co-citations (1810). Frontier topics can be identified by trending keywords, including “anxiety,” “depression,” “psychological distress,” “quarantine,” “post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” “insomnia,” and “Healthcare workers.” CONCLUSION: The most common psychological problems of people during the epidemic are anxiety and depression. Insomnia and PTSD need to be solved under the normalization of the epidemic. GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scales are the most convenient and effective for screening anxiety and depression. Healthcare workers, older adults, and college students should be concerned, and social and family support is essential.