The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted many areas of our lives, including mental health. Lockdown and physical distancing measures have been one major effective intervention to counter the spread of the virus and reduce the impact of the disease. However, they have negatively impacted mental well-being and behaviors, either triggering the onset of new psychiatric symptoms and diseases or amplifying pre-existing ones. The pandemic and lockdown measures have also been associated with reduced access to treatment and facilities all over the world, further worsening mental health outcomes. The impact on mental health, although universal, varied between nations. Cultural and societal variables, including norms, values, religion, and stigma have played an important role in shaping COVID-19-related mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, grief, psychosis, and addiction. These sociocultural factors have also molded how mental health interventions are tailored and provided. Highlighting the intertwining relationship between the pandemic, mental health, and sociocultural factors are essential to managing emerging mental health symptoms adequately.

This Research Topic is the second volume of the "Community Series In Mental-Health-Related Stigma and Discrimination: Prevention, Role, and Management Strategies". Please see the first volume here. Despite the tremendous progress and successes achieved in diagnostics, therapy, and rehabilitation in psychiatry over the past few decades, the stigma towards mental health patients, their relatives and caregivers, and healthcare professionals is still present. Social stigma, in particular, represents a major obstacle to maintaining adequate mental health care. This increases reluctance to seek help delays patients' diagnosis and limits their compliance and adherence to treatment. In the long term, this reduces psychiatric rehabilitation effectiveness and causes a burden to healthcare providers and society alike. The main goal of this Research Topic is to evaluate the impact and role of stigma, in all its forms, on individuals with psychiatric disorders, their caregivers, and mental health providers.