**Preface**

Working as mental health professionals in a General Chest Diseases Hospital, which was exclusively treating patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic, we have witnessed healthcare personnel being emotionally overwhelmed and patients and their relatives under great psychological and physical stress. We also experienced tremendous pressure while trying to evaluate their psychological distress under unprecedented circumstances in times of health crisis and organize more targeted and effective support interventions. Our aim was to gather information on the current psychosocial and mental health needs of the community population, globally, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The motivation was to communicate a paradigm shift to better address the multiple challenges in Primary Mental Health Care. The pluralistic content and the diverse approaches of the included research articles make the published contributions valuable from a research and clinical point of view, for health professionals, trainees, and the broader reader audience. We would like to thank all contributing authors and all included participants for their commitment and support.

> **Athanassios Tselebis and Argyro Pachi** *Editors*
