The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a huge toll on mental health, the WHO (World Health Organization) indicated this Wednesday (2), noting that cases of anxiety and depression have increased by more than 25% globally. .
In a new scientific report, the WHO also points out that the Covid-19 crisis has significantly impeded access to mental health services in many cases, generating concern due to the increase in suicidal behavior.
The report, which is based on analysis and a compendium of a large number of studies, determined that there was a 27.6% increase in cases of severe depressive disorder worldwide in 2020 alone.
During the first year of the pandemic, it was also possible to see 25.6% more cases of anxiety disorders worldwide.
“In terms of proportions, this is a huge increase,” warned Brandon Gray of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, who coordinated the scientific report.
The work “shows that Covid-19 has had a strong impact on people’s mental health and well-being”.
The most important increases were seen in places heavily affected by Covid-19, with high rates of daily infections and mobility restrictions.
In addition, women were more affected than men, particularly in the 20-24 age group.
suicidal behaviors
On the other hand, data on suicides were mixed and did not show major differences from global rates since the beginning of the pandemic.
The statistics of some countries showed growth in these rates, while in others there was a drop or the numbers remained unchanged.
Gray cautioned that there is often a delay in collecting and analyzing these statistics. “I do not believe that these results should be taken as an indicator that suicidal behavior is not a concern,” he cautioned.
The study indicates that, since the beginning of the health crisis, there is a greater risk of suicidal behavior among young people, which includes suicide attempts and self-inflicted injuries.
In addition, it has been proven that burnout among health professionals, loneliness and positive Covid-19 diagnoses increased the possibility of suicidal thoughts.
The study also concluded that individuals suffering from mental disorders are at greater risk of suffering serious illness or death from Covid. Nevertheless, Gray highlighted that more studies are still needed to establish this link.
One reason, he said, could be that those with mental disorders tend to have a less healthy and active lifestyle, with higher rates of smoking, substance abuse and obesity than the general public.
The study presented on Wednesday also shows that mental health services for patients in outpatient clinics were severely affected in 2020 because of the pandemic.
In many cases, these problems were mitigated by medical telecare services.
The difficulties in responding to the challenges that mental health presents in the midst of this pandemic were caused, in large part, by the constant “lack of investment” in these services before the Covid-19 pandemic took place, according to Gray.
“Decades of underinvestment are evident in our lack of preparedness to address the scale of the problem,” he added.
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