The pandemic has increased inequalities which risk making the already precarious mental health of the most disadvantaged social groups increasingly fragile, but the Covid vaccine is starting to reduce anxiety and mental distress.
"The pandemic immediately led to an exacerbation of existing inequalities, with greater incidence and outcomes of the disease in the weakest groups - declare Massimo di Giannantonio and Enrico Zanalda, co-presidents of the Italian Society of Psychiatry - The inequalities generated by the consequences of the lockdown have also had repercussions on mental health, increasing mental distress especially among the more fragile segments of the population, with less access to care and services whose repercussions are still being felt".
However, some changes are starting to be seen in the mental health of the general population following the anti-Covid vaccination. "We are experiencing the first signs of a reduction in some degree of pandemic anxiety and depression - add di Giannantonio and Zanalda - The population is starting to feel more confident about the future and sure of emerging from the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus, especially now that the anti-Covid vaccine is available which gives us hope of moving away from the risk of a new 'Red October', of new isolations and closures which have weighed heavily on the mental health of the entire population community, especially of the most fragile individuals with more mental problems at the start".
The mental health numbers in the world are impressive, almost a billion people live with a mental disorder in poor countries, over 75% of people receive no assistance. Every year over a million people die from substance abuse and in conjunction with Covid the data appears disturbing to say the least: one in 4 young people aged 18-24 years (25%) declared that they have increased the use of substances to coping with Covid-related stress. Every 40 seconds a person takes their own life and in 2020 suicides increased, just think that in Japan from June to October 2020 they grew by 16% compared to the same period in 2019. About half of mental health disorders begin at age 14.
Access to mental health services remains riddled with inequalities, with something like the 85% of people with
mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries unable to access dedicated assistance. "But also
in rich countries things are not better, including Italy - experts underline - and the pandemic has complicated it for many
wait for this situation. The most fragile people who already had mental health problems with Covid had greater difficulty accessing health services (24% more than the general population), a higher probability of 33% of suffering therapeutic and prescribing interruptions and greater work problems with a higher risk of losing it than 12%".
These are the data that emerged from a study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, which once again underlines how the
pandemic has had a significant impact on the health and quality of life of the most vulnerable with mental health problems, exacerbating the
inequalities.
"The pandemic risks paving the way for a global mental health crisis that will also affect future generations with long-term repercussions - say di Giannantonio and Zanalda - This is why it is important to intercept and ride the
signs of hope that come from the possibility of emerging from the Covid nightmare through the vaccine. A study confirms this
recently published in the magazine Plos One and conducted at the Center for Economics and Social Research of the University of
Southern California showing that those who have received at least one dose of the vaccine say they are more optimistic about the future, resulting in a decrease in perceived anxiety and depression."
Source: http://direnl.dire.it/psicologia/anno/2021/ottobre/12/index.php
Photo by Maksim Goncharenok from Pexels.
