Even on the subject of addictions, the impact of the pandemic on mental health clearly emerged in the first wave of the virus and has a start date: last March 9th, when the entry into force of the lockdown, the confinement, changed perhaps forever our lifestyle.
The very existence of Covid-19 has triggered a maladjustment syndrome in the general population and even more so in a group of people with pre-existing mental disorders diagnosed in the anxious-depressive spectrum.
In the field of addictions - in which the psychiatrist works Alessandro Vento, speaker of the VI meeting of the training course "Volunteers and families online for mental health" and responsible forAddictions Observatory - consumption patterns have changed. There has been a massive increase in alcohol and prescription drug use, especially by street users of psychoactive substances, which disappeared from the market during the lockdown. At the same time, the adulteration of substances has increased - which consumers have begun to cut with what they have available, with greater damage to health - and the online purchase of psychoactive substances, legal or not.
Also noteworthy is the use of foods with psycho-pharmacological properties (for example spices) used in the pandemic together with alcohol, as compensatory conduct.
There were big differences between the first and second waves of Covid, he confirmed Giuseppe Ducci, director of the Mental Health Department of ASL Roma 1, also a speaker at the VI meeting of the training course. Differences due to the different types of insulation implemented. Psychiatric problems were much greater during the lockdown. In the ASL Roma 1 there have been five suicides, all involving single women.
We must consider that the fundamental elements of mental health are sociality and resilience which is that ability to adapt to circumstances, overcome the stress of adverse events that occur in life, maintaining or restoring balance in a fairly short time.
This pandemic occurs a century after the "Spanish flu", in a totally different world which will still change profoundly due to the emergency we are experiencing, and must be an opportunity to build a different way of operating in mental health too.
We need to move to "a new culture of taking care of the user", based on the strong integration of services, imagine and create flexible working groups made up of different operators with different skills that are set up on a case, a patient, tailored to the characteristics of the person. Groups open to external parties, such as families and entities active in the area. ASL Roma 1 is working on this.
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