The covid-19 pandemic has given rise to a mental health crisis that particularly affects vulnerable groups, and governments need to develop public policies to counter it, experts said at a recent virtual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The region will not be able to rebuild without full mental well-being, said neurologist Facundo Manes, one of the participants in the group entitled “Mental Health: The Next Pandemic?”
“A country’s wealth lies in the mental, cognitive and social resources of its citizens. This crisis is a health crisis, but also an economic, moral and ideological crisis and all this affects our behavior at individual and community level “, argued the honorary president and founder of the Ineco Foundation.
Manes cited data indicating that there is a lot of anxiety, distress, mental exhaustion among the population and that the four most affected groups are young people, women, the elderly and health workers.
He recalled that mental health cannot be separated from physical health and therefore the mental health crisis should be placed at the center of the debate, as well as the issue of vaccines and the health measures that need to be taken to live with it. virus.
“If we do not talk about this, these symptoms, which are transient for the time being, can become chronic. And, if they become chronic, it will be another impediment, another obstacle for the social and economic recovery of our region “, he declared.
Government accountability
Regarding the government’s responsibility in the face of the mental health crisis caused by the pandemic, psychologist Fernando Torrente said that governments need to think about how to respond to the different levels of problems that will be generated.
The professional clarified that there is a global psychological crisis in which there are groups with a higher risk of developing specific mental disorders (to those mentioned by Manes, Torrente added people in a more disadvantaged socio-economic situation).
We are more overwhelmed and worried and this leads us to experience psychological discomfort and, in some cases, depressive or anxious symptoms, which is the most common, said Torrente. Many of these symptoms are mild and transient, but in a subgroup there are more intense symptoms and these people meet a number of criteria for the disorder or pathology.
“Our answer must also be absolved,” suggested the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences at Favaloro University in Argentina.
“When we have a high level of discomfort and stress, difficulties in presenting well-being in groups (…) all this inevitably translates into social,” he warned.
Fear, resilience and empathy
Along with the virus, fear has spread, an emotion that, according to Manes, puts us on the defensive and from which we can only get out with information and cooperation.
“It’s a community disease, and the way out is community,” the neurologist insisted.
But in situations like the current one, endurance is also activated in the brain.
“While it may seem like a lie to us because of the pain we are experiencing and the pain and suffering we will still see, many of us and many communities will become resilient,” he said.
Many people will develop empathy and learn that collective well-being is more important than their personal status and success.
However, Manes clarifies that this depends not only on individuals, but also on how authorities handle the issue.
“The authorities must communicate in a transparent way and give a certain idea of horizon, perspective. There are things we can do and there are things the authorities can do, that’s why this is based on the community “, the expert argued.
Parents
Florencia López Boo, chief economist of the IDB’s Social Protection and Health Division, analyzed several studies during her speech that indicate that people with children experienced higher levels of stress during the pandemic.
The concerns of these people, said López Boo, are mainly related to food, housing and health security. Surveys conducted in Latin American countries also showed a huge gap between mothers and fathers: mothers showed a higher level of discomfort. This was due, according to López Boo, to the fact that childcare fell mainly on women.
Increased complaints of violence, mainly psychological, and a greater use of corporal punishment as a form of discipline were other problems identified in the studies.
Given these data, López Boo said that we need to “do more to prevent parental stress”, because caring for children and their well-being is the care of their caregivers, ensuring their mental health.
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participant.
Facundo Manes, Fernando Torrente and Florencia López Boo discussed the consequences of the pandemic on the emotional well-being of the population, especially in vulnerable groups, in a virtual meeting entitled “Mental Health: The Next Pandemic?”