"The pandemic has had a greater impact on the mental health of health care providers, women, and young people."
The Covid-19 epidemic has more than only "direct" health implications for those who are afflicted. In reality, several scientific investigations have now linked a state of inner restlessness to the altered societal conditions imposed by the coronavirus. Consider the tragedy in Lombardy on September 13, the first day of school, when three people died by suicide, including two fifteen-year-olds who died and a twelve-year-old who was hospitalized in critical condition.
Not isolated and limited occurrences, because the incidence of suicide attempts among teenagers has risen since Sars-CoV2 flipped the world upside down. The existence of a family member with symptoms, financial troubles, and loneliness are all issues that plague Italian households. There was an uptick in requests for assistance and referrals to mental health professionals.
Work Stress
Without taking into account the surge in cases of job stress and burnout syndromes that have afflicted some groups, such as health care professionals, who have been "burned" by a massive commitment. Two out of three people now experience indications of fatigue from job stress, according to a large-scale international study released in July: months of hard shifts to combat the emergency have left visible marks. For example, according to a research published at the American Society of Cardiology's last conference, the burnout rate among cardiologists has risen since Covid-19. An international poll of 55,000 people from 13 countries found that in recent months, on average, 40% of the population has complained of sleep problems, with up to 75% of those infected with the virus.
The Initiative
It's difficult to find the key to this twisted yarn. To summarize, one in every eight individuals recovered from Covid-19 displays neurological or mental problems, according to a review done by the University of Oxford on over 200 thousand medical records of patients in the United States. Those who have been admitted to the hospital are more vulnerable to difficulties, but even those who have not required hospitalization have experienced depression-related issues. Probably, a purely scientific intervention or a purely political-health-economic intervention would only untangle a portion of the tangles.
As a result, the European initiative Headway 2023 was promoted, conceived, and promoted by the Think Tank The European House - Ambrosetti in collaboration with Angelini Pharma, with the goal of facilitating the comparison of European experiences in the field of mental health between experts from the scientific community, economists, proponents of health-care realities, patients, and their families. The organizers of the creators describe it as a "melting pot of knowledge" that will "examine what are the most effective methods and solutions for prevention, diagnosis, management, and reduction of the impact of mental disorders not just in the health sectors."
Research
To discover answers, it is important to begin with a thorough examination of the issue using trustworthy data, which is why the research «Headway 2023 - Mental Health Index» was conducted and will be presented in Brussels on October 7, 2021, during Mental Health Week. The Courierhe reviewed a section of the dossier that included early analyses of the challenges from many perspectives, with a particular focus on the pandemic's impact on the 27 EU countries plus the United Kingdom. The image depicts a wide range of state responses to mental health-related economic, health, and social issues. "For example, economic resources for mental health range from 3.5 percent of total healthcare expenditure in Italy to 10% in Sweden, according to the study, and in the workplace, the employment rate of people affected by Depression is very heterogeneous, ranging from 26.9% in Romania to 68 percent in Germany, despite frequent absenteeism and the cost associated with it," the study says.
The School
"It is also possible to find significant differences in schools: when looking at the dropout rate of young people with mental disorders, the situation that emerges is critical - explains the dossier - and in Portugal, for example, 72 percent of young people who drop out of school have a mental disorder at the same time, whereas in Denmark, where programs for the prevention and promotion of good mental health are available, the situation that emerges is critical." Naturally, government funding are essential: "In countries where the per capita expenditure for mental health-related disability benefits is higher, the person perceives more social support: in Greece, the expenditure is 65 euros per person, and the percentage of the population receiving poor social support is 25.9%, whereas in Austria, the expenditure is 250 euros, and the percentage of the population receiving poor social support is 25.9%."
Plan
"The Headway 2023 action plan will proceed in accordance with the programs and operational activities of the main players, institutions, governments, and international organizations such as the WHO and the United Nations, whose Agenda 2030 includes the prevention and maintenance of psycho-physical well-being throughout a person's lifetime as one of the sustainable development goals," the creators explain.
The European Union also sends a strong message about the importance of mental health, particularly in the context of pandemics, in a new directive for the years 2021-2027, in which the section dedicated to mental health is "central not only as a health problem, but also as a condition of citizen well-being."
For Daniela Bianco, partner and head of the Healthcare Area of The European House "in Italy, the holistic and multidimensional approach to mental health that invites us to consider a multiplicity of elements and interventions of health, social, work and educational policy, emphasized by" Headway 2023 "Ambrosetti, has already been a key theme in both the second mental health conference held by the Ministry of Health in June, but also in the G20 side event at the beginning of September, where for the first time a G20 event was specifically dedicated to health mental.
The Appeal
"The pandemic has completely disrupted all of our personal and professional lives," says Daniela Poggio, Angelini Pharma's Global Communications Executive Director, "but the categories that paid the highest price due to isolation, anxiety, and concern for the future were, in addition to health workers, women, and young people." Children have had to face a terrible condition of discomfort in an era so strongly defined by contacts, socializing, school and sports activities as childhood and adolescence, with major effects especially on mental health.
The forced separation from the school setting and the social context that the youngest require is the cause of regression and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. These are illnesses that we must not undervalue or excuse in any manner. Women, too, have paid a hefty price.
Women have had to deal with high levels of stress that have had, and may continue to have, inevitable repercussions on their mental well-being. From the frustration of losing their jobs, to balancing home and work, to the new organization of their children's school and extra-curricular activities, without forgetting the increase in cases of domestic violence against them, women have had to deal with high levels of stress that have had, and perhaps will continue to have, inevitable repercussions on their mental well-being. It is also critical to safeguard, prevent, and preserve people's mental health, rather than abandoning them, and to combat the biases that still exist today towards these vulnerable individuals.