Coronavirus: mental health has taken a downward turn

The difficult situation experienced by the mental health sector in our country was the subject of the second forum, which was organized by the Society of Social Psychiatry «P. Sakellaropoulos», on the subject of «Covid-19: Psychiatric Reform & Social Change».

The work of the forum focused on the absence of primary care, the need to create new structures in the community and the course of psychiatric reforms.

Many presenters focused on how children experience the pandemic, in a grim setting of fragmented normality, away from school, friends and social activity. Particular emphasis was placed on the pressures faced by young people who, instead of spreading their wings, are forced to vegetate in a state of semi-sensitivity, with parents unable to cope alone with the disorders that occur during adolescence.

Other scientists wondered what the future holds for us, as we are already the present is experienced as a collective trauma. There was no lack of critical approaches to the science in sympathy with power, as the emergency becomes the norm due to Covid coexisting with the expediencies that exploit it.

Psychiatrists from all over Greece, exposed the difficulties of videoconferencing especially in rural areas where there is no easy internet connection, there was talk of limited access to basic services for vulnerable groups and the deterioration of mental health in wider sections of the population due to economic and health insecurity from the «invisible enemy», fear of today and anxiety about what will follow in a world without contact and communication.

It exposed the circumstances of how health service recipients experienced the new reality of alienation, such as those in sheltered housing as six out of ten boarders did not have free internet to ensure channels of communication with their loved ones, thus experiencing greater isolation.

Many people objected to the criminal state negligence solidarity and the use of the potential of technology to make services more accessible, to reach and accompany those in need, «deflecting defences so that we come out stronger». More than 100,000 calls had been received by the dedicated five-digit Psychosocial Support Hotline 10306 from 4/4/2020 when it went live until the end of October this year, reflecting the fear and anxiety about the virus and tomorrow from callers and the need to communicate due to isolation, with 50% of those calling the line coming into contact with mental health services for the first time.

However, the management of trauma and loss dramatically brings to the fore the issues of survival of the world that is being tested every day. having reached its limits, urging the need to development of mental health services for the whole population in a country characterised by the absence of primary psychiatric health care, with the cost being disproportionately borne by the popular classes who, in their struggle for survival, are daily exposed to the risk of the virus.

In the face of this unprecedented health crisis, attributed in belligerent terms as regards its consequences in order to justify the measures imposed, but in terms of personal responsibility when it comes time to attribute the government's omissions, the government, instead of strengthening the health sector in terms of human resources and infrastructure, reinforces the repressive mechanisms so that mass incarceration seems inevitable. Inclusion that not only falls heavily on the shoulders of the vulnerable, but makes the whole population fragile.

In addition to the viral load in the wastewater tested, the following are also detected increased amounts of psychotropic drugs, anxiolytics and antidepressants, revealing that people are being tested in conditions of confinement, manifesting anxiety and depressive disorders. The reasons are not lacking: loneliness, financial problems, fear. As for the lack of structures? The state itself, through its competent representative, has admitted that only 25% finds access to health services.

Need for cooperation

It is no coincidence that among the central proposals that emerged during the forum's proceedings, is the need for all professionals, regardless of their background, to work together and join forces in the common struggle to ensure the provision of high quality mental health services for all citizens, in order to strengthen mental resilience. Particularly now, with the pandemic, the outside world seems threatening and relationships, which are a cornerstone of mental health, are limited, with social networks playing an important role in developing solidarity and support actions.

Among other things, the following emerged as important sources of empowerment art and culture, but also the application of successful models in the field of mental health such as Psychiatric Care at the Patient's Home (PSH) and the Mobile Mental Health Units, while the wish was expressed to remove the divisions between the public and the non-profit private «third sector», so that the bureaucracy of the institutions does not hinder the cooperation of the different structures, community and inpatient.

Finally, the desire for the cultivation of a a climate of trust, commitment and participation«We are all on the same side and we are all looking to the future with anxiety about what it will bring», it was said.