This Monday (10) World Mental Health Day is celebrated across the planet. In these almost post-pandemic times of covid-19, the disease continues to affect the mental health of large numbers of people around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the pandemic has created a global crisis for mental health, fueling short- and long-term stress, and undermining the emotional well-being of thousands of people around the world.
In this context, according to experts, the manifestation of the effects of the disease can become permanent both for patients and their families, as well as for health professionals.
For senior and mental health specialist Davi Fiuza Diniz, the role of patient and family associations in this rehabilitation process is very important. He cites the work of the Associação em Defesa da Saúde Mental (ADSM) – a non-governmental organization (NGO) from Ceará –, which seeks to support patients through group therapies and care with family members and caregivers, and a multidisciplinary team formed by health and other professionals.
Diniz, who works at ADMS, said that many of the mental problems of those assisted by the association worsened during the pandemic. He himself felt this problem because he had two people with mental disorders in his family. “I know what that pain is,” he said. Today, his relatives are stabilized after participating in group therapy at the NGO.
“We try to show people and family members who have someone in the family with an emotional problem that, when they leave the psychiatrist or psychologist, they have support. There is a whole conduct to give emotional balance. The Association has several services for this purpose: to give support to people who have a problem and also to the family members who are accompanying them, because they also need support”, said Diniz.
aggravation
In an interview with Brazil Agency, psychiatrist and member of the Brazilian Psychiatry Association (ABP) Luiz Carlos Coronel said that the pandemic triggered something that was latent or aggravated what already existed. In the case of Brazil, according to him, both things happened, but it especially aggravated the great mental health needs of the population that already existed.
Luiz Carlos Coronel recalled that the country, according to the Vigitel 2021 survey by the Ministry of Health, is the champion in Latin America in cases of depression, involving 11.3% of the population. “It’s a champion of anxiety disorders and so on,” he said. According to the specialist, this was exacerbated by the pandemic, the restrictions and everything that accompanied the life-threatening epidemic process.
Due to the restriction of circulation, the pathologies linked to the consumption of psychoactive substances also increased. “People started to use more alcohol and other drugs and this also caused an aggravation of conflict situations. So, the number of domestic violence has increased a lot, due to the restriction of moving around, of living with other people”.
Coronel pointed out that as a result of all this, the effects of the Covid-19 infection are still manifesting themselves over time, including forms that are not severe, but moderate, and that have clinical, cerebral manifestations. “These viruses have these capabilities that we don’t know well. It’s the long-term effects.” Another factor is that Brazil has grown a lot in the last 30 to 40 years in terms of population, and the structure of care and health care has not followed this growth, said the psychiatrist. “The health care network remains precarious, despite the efforts of the Ministry of Health. And mental health is even more precarious,” he added.
long covid
Luiz Carlos Coronel evaluated that the pandemic left a “long covid”. In other words, its effects are already being felt and will continue to appear for a long time. “Undefined time yet. No researcher has any idea how long the production of these side effects of the disease will last, especially affecting the person’s mental health “.
Everyone was restricted, with fewer resources to live with, leading to high rates of depression, anxiety, use and abuse of psychoactive substances and drugs. All of this got heightened,” she said.
