[Importance of the COVID-19 pandemic for public health and group psychological aspects-Part 2 of a (preliminary) review].

Based upon the findings related to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on human living conditions and psychological health, in the first part of this review the authors discuss the consequences of the pandemic for public health. It is surprising to see that related to public health but also psychological factors and sequelae of the pandemic, a broad knowledge was already available based upon former pandemics and disasters long before the outbreak of COVID-19. This knowledge has been used very sparsely, if at all, for health political decisions. In view of the social significance of the pandemic and its social impact, findings from group psychology and group dynamics seem to be specifically important for a better understanding of behavior within the population as well as the conceptualization of public health interventions. An increase in psychological disorders was described related to the pandemic. For the treatment of these disorders, a range of psychotherapeutic approaches including evidence-based group psychotherapy are available. Whereas the use of telemedical and digital techniques is increasingly more common within individual psychotherapy, many questions are still open related to online group treatment.