By Kate
Kelland, London UK
A mental
illness crisis is looming as millions of people worldwide are surrounded by
death and disease and forced into isolation, poverty and anxiety by the
pandemic of COVID-19, United Nations health experts said on Thursday.FILE PHOTO: "Grief holds her covered face against the shoulder of History and weeps in mourning" as depicted at the Peace Monument in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S
“The
isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil - they all cause or
could cause psychological distress,” said Devora Kestel, director of the World
Health Organization’s (WHO) mental health department.
Presenting a U.N. report and policy guidance on
COVID-19 and mental health, Kestel said an upsurge in the number and severity
of mental illnesses is likely, and governments should put the issue “front and
centre” of their responses.
“The mental health and wellbeing of whole societies
have been severely impacted by this crisis and are a priority to be addressed
urgently,” she told reporters at a briefing.
The report highlighted several regions and sections
of societies as vulnerable to mental distress - including children and young
people isolated from friends and school, healthcare workers who are seeing
thousands of patients infected with and dying from the new coronavirus.
Emerging studies and surveys are already showing
COVID-19’s impact on mental health globally. Psychologists say children are
anxious and increases in cases of depression and anxiety have been recorded in
several countries.
Domestic violence is rising, and health workers are
reporting an increased need for psychological support.
Reuters last week reported from interviews with doctors
and nurses in the United States who said either they or their colleagues had
experienced a combination of panic, anxiety, grief, numbness, irritability,
insomnia and nightmares.
Outside of the health sector, the WHO report said
many people are distressed by the immediate health impacts and the consequences
of physical isolation, while many others are afraid of infection, dying, and
losing family members.
Millions of people are facing economic turmoil,
having lost or being at risk of losing their income and livelihoods, it added.
And frequent misinformation and rumours about the pandemic and deep uncertainty
about how long it will last are making people feel anxious and hopeless about
the future.
It outlined action points for policy-makers to aim
“to reduce immense suffering among hundreds of millions of people and mitigate
long-term social and economic costs to society”.
These included redressing historic under-investment in psychological services, providing “emergency mental health” via remote therapies such as tele-counselling for frontline health workers, and working proactively with people known to have depression and anxiety, and with those at high risk of domestic violence and acute impoverishment.
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