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Corona puts the mental health of European medical staff at stake

Medical workers have become a symbol for fighting the epidemic, but the tension and anxiety caused by dealing with the large number of injured and dead people has become common among these “soldiers”. Therefore, professional bodies in the most affected countries in Europe work to provide psychological support, especially if they are struck A second wave of emerging corona virus.

Steve, a British nurse in northeast England, was infected with “Covid-19” two months ago. Today, after recovery, he talks about his anxiety that his children will get sick.

“I would never have imagined that I would have to work in first grades during a pandemic,” he said. I would have liked that it was just a dream that will end when I wake up and the world returns as it was before. ”

“We have here all the ingredients necessary for the risk of PTSD,” explains Xavier Noel, a mental health expert at the Free University of Brussels.

He adds that the people who enter the intensive care unit “faced a very unusual death rate and method of death, within a framework devoid of humanity, and without families to console them, during the decision-making stage.”

Europe is crying about 175 thousand of its inhabitants who died the epidemic of “Covid-19” that affected more than 2 million people on the continent. The healers who lead the battle to save lives pay a heavy bill.

A study conducted earlier this month on 3300 healers in the Dutch-speaking regions of Belgium shows that 15% of the respondents are thinking of “quitting the profession” compared to 6% in normal times.

Another study shows that the consumption of alcohol during the quarantine period has not increased in the population, except for medical personnel.

In France, an association that specializes in supporting health care personnel says it receives more than 70 calls every day, some of them from people who face a “significant risk of suicide.”

In Spain, more than 50 thousand patients were diagnosed with COFED-19, or 22% of the cases registered in the country, according to the Ministry of Health.

Anxiety is widespread in medical staff, according to a study by the University of Madrid, which concluded that more than half (51%) of the 1,200 patients included in the questionnaire showed “symptoms of depression.” Also, 53% of these subjects had indicators “commensurate with those due to PTSD.”

The authors of the study, Lourdes Lucino Moreno and Jesus Martin Garcia, pointed out that “an urgent psychological intervention is necessary for this group if the second wave that is greatly feared becomes a reality”, adding: “We will see emotionally broken specialists and a health system unable to respond.”

It was found by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan that 7 out of 10 health professionals in the most affected Italian regions suffer from fatigue, and 9 out of 10 suffer from stress.

Many talked about excess nervousness, sleep disturbances, nightmares, and crying spells.

According to researcher Serena Barrillo, the usual professional pressure increased due to the growing work pressure, “which severely threatens their health not only physical but also emotional and psychological.”

In Britain, the second most affected country in the world in terms of the number of deaths after the United States, Laura Hyde, the only association that provides psychological support to medical staff, explains that it is receiving a flood of contacts.

“All the medical personnel everywhere have been truly affected by the flood of love they received from the public,” says Jennifer Hawkins, one of the officials at the foundation, which was created in honor of the memory of a nurse who committed suicide in 2016. However, the characteristic of the heroes that were fired upon may sometimes increase pressure on them.

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