There is no health without mental health
The COVID19 pandemic has not only attacked our physical health; it has also increased psychological suffering.
Mental health is at the core of our humanity. It enables us to lead rich and fulfilling lives and to participate fully in our communities.
Even without the pandemic, one in four of us will suffer a mental health episode during our lifetimes. The shocks associated wirh COVID19 are now pushing many towards greater gragility and pain: grief at the loss of loced ones: anxietyat the loss of jobs; isolation and restrictions of movement; difficult family dinamics; uncertainty and fesr for the future. Each of these on its own can trigger or deepen distress. Yoday many people are suffering several simultaneously.
Healthcare workers are among those most deeply affected. For example, Umair Bachlani, an intensive care nurse in Pakistan talked about how he deals with personal and professional stress. Me Bachlani and hisncolleagues wear protective equipment for up to 16 hours a day while trying to save lives. When they go home at the end of a long shift, they must love separately from their families in order to protect them from possible infection.
Charlene Sunkel, a South African advocate on mental health issues who is living with schizophrenia said that after decades of neglect and underinvestment in mental health servuced, she is deeply concerned about the dramatic increase in psychological conditions due to COVID19. She pointed out that while the physical symptons caused by the virus may disappear in weeks, people will continue to suffer the impact of grief, anxiety and depression for months ir even years. In addition to healthcare workers, those most at risk are older people, adolescents, people with pre-existing mental health comditions and those already caught up in conflict and crisis.
I have always believed that mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, are some of the grratest causes of human misery. In mu surroundings I have people dedicated to psychoanalysis world and through them Incame to understand the crippling burden of poor mental health particularly for people in crisis situations. This suffering is often exacerbated by stigma and discrimination, making pelple afraid to seek help.
In many countries, the pandemy has lead to cuts in mental bealth serviced and the closure of faxilities. Unless we act now to address the mental health need associated with the pandemic, there eill be enormous long-term consequences for families, communities and societies.
Mental health services are an essential part of all government responses to COVID19. They must be expanded and fully funded.
Policies must support and care for those affected by mental health conditions, and protect their human rights and dignity. Lockdowns and quarantines must not discriminate against those with poor mental health.
As we recover from the pandemic, we must take the opportunity to build mental health services for the future, by shifting services to the community, making them accessible online, and making sure mental health is included in universal health coverage. It will be essential to involve people with lived experience of mental health conditions in designing and delivering services.
There is no health without mental health.