Ninth appointment with Mayor Michele de Pascale’s direct Facebook to discuss the issues of healthcare and the Covid emergency, which is putting doctors and hospitals around the world in serious difficulty. This time the topic dealt with is that of the aspects of the pandemic connected to mental health, and for this Wednesday the guest of the interview was Dr. Roberto Zanfini, Director of psychiatric emergency-urgency of Ravenna. In the province of Ravenna, about 6000-6500 people access mental health services every year, without considering pathological addictions and adolescent patients who instead turn to child neuropsychiatry.
The impact of the pandemic on mental health
“Paradoxically, with the pandemic there has been a reduction in the number of hospitalizations and psychiatric consultations carried out in the hospital – explains the director – In the moments of the lockdown, the most difficult ones, these services have had less demand. It is a fact that can be read in two ways: as the fact that people have not asked for help or as the fact that when there are social situations of serious crisis the number of suicides and accesses decreases, because paradoxically when there are conflicts in reality the request for mental health decreases. It is as if people, faced with such emotionally important events, regain strength, as if they had a shot of the oars, and even people in frailty in difficult situations show that they have the ability to withstand even critical situations The problem is: how long does this capacity last? The data we will only see later, but the more stressful the situation lasts, the more likely people are to meet. or in difficult situations “.
“We have tried to maintain as much as possible the access of relatives and the freedom of hospitalized patients to be able to take advantage of the exit permits, obviously in compliance with the anticovid rules – specifies the psychiatrist – With regard to the services of mental health centers, there have been national guidelines. The mental health center of Ravenna has managed in an excellent way to maintain all the planned and unplanned activities, modulating it through the new regulations. There were some critical issues for the rehabilitation activities, but due compulsion can increase the extent of aggression, and services have proven to be capable of handling emergencies never seen before by reinventing themselves. Mental health services have changed the way they work in order to respond and will be ready to handle even other critical situations “.
Distinguish between malaise caused by Covid and actual illness
The condition of suffering and malaise caused by Covid and the constriction of the lockdown does not necessarily have the dimension of illness: “It is a psychic response in verifying that the condition of well-being is lower than before – specifies Zanfini – In this condition the the first answers are psychological, because we are not yet in a condition of illness. Only when the state of suffering is very important and compromises a person’s ability to carry out daily activities should we contact the national health system. My main advice is to try to see situations projected into the future: say “what can I do tomorrow? How can I organize my day? “And try to create areas of socialization. This already usually gives a feeling of relief.”
This on an individual level: “But when a community is so suddenly upset, there must be a social response – points out the doctor – Today, for example, even just going to Cesenatico almost seems to go to London: before this thing gets out of our mind will take time. With the limitation of personal freedoms we have changed our behavior in a certain sense without realizing it: to change this it will take a long time. The answer in this case must be articulated at the social level, opportunities for The fear of contact, the fact of not being able to shake hands or hug each other, the pain of people who have lost their loved ones without being able to assist them are all aspects that determine areas of suffering in which the answer cannot be sanitary, if we do not enter a condition of disease. Social services have maintained their access, and we must keep the dimension of the disease separate. tia from that of the malaise, because the latter can last some time “.
The impact of the pandemic on adolescence
For adolescence, the impact of the pandemic was very important. “School is not just study, but socialization, life, friendship, growth also through the role of teachers – explains Zanfini – Spending a lot of time away from friends and using only IT tools has determined an impact on growth and socialization. . For the resilience that young people have, I believe they will be able to overcome this moment in a very brilliant way. Young people are already more prepared to communicate electronically: this is not life, however, which is not just Facebook or Whatsapp. When young people experience a moment of drama, problems arise not only as regards mental health, but also as a ‘country system’. For some time there have been data that indicate an increase in the states of suffering of adolescents, although it remains to be understood whether it is due to a greater demand because the stigma of asking for help or not has been overcome. It is necessary to create mental health services in which there are various professional figures who ruo tano around the person in a transverse manner. Adolescence is an age of strong resilience, but also in which conditions for the onset of mental illness can be created “.
THE OTHER DIRECT
EPISODE 1 – Few doctors and hospitals on tilt, the director of the Ausl: “We must take on the ‘gray coats'”
EPISODE 2 – The director of public health: “Only if so many are vaccinated will the pandemic stop”
EPISODE 3 – Mazzoni: “Christmas dinners are unthinkable. Even with the vaccine we will have to respect the rules”
EPISODE 4 – Coronavirus and intensive care: “The effects remain very long”. Vaccine? “We must trust”
EPISODE 5 – Fusari: “Even young patients in intensive care. The vaccine? We don’t know the duration”
EPISODE 6 – The head of pediatrics: “Children will not be vaccinated for now”
EPISODE 7 – Angelini: “The vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is still very long”
EPISODE 8 – The medical director: “We will expand the emergency room by 4000 square meters, we will prepare for the unpredictable”
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