The psychoneuroendocrine response of aggression due to COVID-19 social isolation

Abstract

The pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus in the years 2020-2022 altered the emotional behavior of humans. The restrictive feeling caused by the isolation and the change of life habits that demanded a social separation promoted anxiety, distress, apathy, domestic violence, educational problems, and economic instability, among other aspects. Erroneous statistics, and social media information about the number of people infected by the coronavirus SARS-COV-2, aggravated human anxiety and depression. This review compares the main psychological effects caused by pandemic isolation compared to other isolated social contexts. We studied the primary central nervous system areas involved in human reactive aggressiveness behavior. We examine this behavior in relationship with catecholamines and hormones during social isolation. We do not measure or analyze any hormone in our laboratory and only describe the circuits involved in the neuroendocrine response to the aggressive behavior.

Keywords

• COVID-19. Isolation. Aggression. Stress.