There is another more dangerous disease spreading around the globe
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the Director of Department of mental health and substance use at the World Health Organisation, Devora Kestel, launched the UN policy brief on COVID-19 and the need for action on Mental Health. The guideline has got some serious ideas to tackle the current crisis, if followed. The problem is that, with all the fuzz around the virus, economic drop, vaccine production, and stuff, most of the countries forget to add ‘mental health’ in the list of priorities.
According to the UN guideline, depression, and anxiety before the COVID-19 pandemic cost the global economy more than one trillion USD per year. So, if you are thinking of fixing the mental wellbeing of the citizens after repairing the national economy, it is just not gonna work. If we are in need of a complete revival from this global crisis, it is important that we don’t let our mental health status deteriorate any further. However, the current trend suggests a rapid increase in the rate of suicides and mental disorders like depression and anxiety. If not properly treated, even after the pandemic ends, it might take decades for us to get back on our feet.
Depression affects more than 264 million people in the world, which is about 4% of the world population. This data was collected before the current health crisis. It is only fair to assume that this number has at least reached 7 or 8, most probably 10. This is to consider only depression. If we include the cases with anxiety and mood swings, the number would sum up to a very large percentage of our population. With suicide being the second leading cause of death in young people aged 15 to 29, this is truly a matter of concern.
The global lockdown has also witnessed an increase in alcohol consumption among teens despite the closed bars and reduced supply. This, in turn, has also led to other complications. There have been more cases of domestic violence against women and kids. WHO’s Devora Kestel, citing surveys concluded the prevalence of distress as over 35% of the population surveyed in China, 60% in Iran, 45% in the US, etc.
Understandably, healthcare workers appear to be most vulnerable to these mental problems. Being the forefront warriors in this battle between humanity and COVID-19, they have been affected the most by the terror. At the moment, DSM doesn’t classify natural disasters as a result of a global pandemic to be PTSD even though the symptoms are quite similar. Misinformation about the virus and prevention measures, coupled with deep uncertainties about the future, are additional sources of distress for the public. The sudden fall of the economy, unemployment, all contributes to this mental health crisis. If not dealt with appropriately, COVID may not be the biggest disaster we face this year.
Governments around the world are planning to get back things to normal, or however close we can get to normal. It is important that they integrate mental health into all their plans for revival. This is also required in local bodies and at the community level. Mental health workers and social activists should take it upon themselves to make sure that there are proper facilities to treat those in need and spread awareness among the public. I am not overlooking the current crisis in hand, but if we let another one reach us, our hands would be full to respond to either.
To read the UN policy brief: https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_brief-covid_and_mental_health_final.pdf
