The balance one year after the start of the pandemic and the lockdown, from the purchase of the first masks and from the end of hugs and social contact, is anything but rosy. Cases of people with depressive disorders and anxiety have increased. To be precise, in the case of anxiety, they have more than quadrupled compared to 2019. According to the WHO, in fact, before the Coronavirus situations of structured psychological distress concerned about 17 million Italians and in particular epidemiological studies estimated that 5.4% of the population suffered from depression and 6.7% from anxiety. “Today it is enviable data, because we are in much worse shape. Suffice it to say that our survey showed that 18% of the population is affected by depression and 40% by anxiety “. Professor explained to Fanpage.it David Lazzari, president of the National Council of the Order of Psychologists.
La pandemic fatigue
The fear of Covid, the anxiety of contagion, living a life with so many limitations and uncertainties, a state of permanent precariousness: these are all components that have weighed on the appearance of this type of disorder. “According to our research, the issues that had the greatest impact were fears for the pandemic, for the economic prospects and for contingent situations, such as work from home, confinement, general concerns “. The protraction of such an emergency situation over time has also triggered a psychological fatigue: “The”Pandemic Fatigue“, One of the components of the structured psychological distress that affects and conditions many people”.
What happens if depression and anxiety are not treated
There are many physical health risks associated with the continuing over time of conditions such as depression, anxiety or severe stress. “There is a direct relationship between these disorders and health. We have researches carried out on population samples that prove it: if continued over time, the risk of getting sick increases: in particular there is an increase of 50% for metabolic and autoimmune diseases, 60% for cardiovascular diseases and even 80% for respiratory diseases. But the risk of structuring more serious mental disorders is also high “.
Children: the category most at risk
But the most serious perspectives concern the lives of children and adolescents. “Structured discomfort conditions their development. The psychological distress experienced and not addressed between the ages of 4 and 12 increases the possibility of having psychological disturbances in later ages by 140%, and that experienced between the ages of 13 and 19 by 90% “. It is important though catch all the signs, you don’t get sick overnight: “It is a negative spiral that passes through a progressive worsening of the quality of life and of our physical and psychological well-being. Often people ignore these signals (even in children) and tend to make a passive adaptation, and so the problem remains “. This is why it is essential to become aware of our problems and our resources.
Mental health is treated like physical health
Going to a psychologist is still taboo, the stigma of mental illness still resists in our society. “The main activity of psychologists, on the other hand, is not on disease, the focus of our sciences and our approach is on health and resource promotion of people or communities “. And never like this moment, with a pandemic still underway, is it essential to use all the psychological knowledge we have available for a different quality of development, both social and economic. “The most aware people are those who understand the difficulties and seek help when needed. According to the latest survey we did it found that most people see the psychologist as someone who helps you live better“. But Professor Lazzari warns: “It is the politics and culture that dominates the institutions that are backward, we hope that with the new government things will improve, because there is a reconstruction to be done “.
Psyche education
The reconstruction to be done starts from the idea of starting to practice apsyche education. As well as in recent years we have learned to take care of our body and our diet, it is also necessary to work on our emotions. “We live in a society that has produced paradoxes. On the one hand it requires more and more psychological skills to orient itself and make choices and on the other hand, however, it treats us as mere consumers of material goods and subordinates us to technology. This laceration creates suffering, leads people to ignore their deepest feelings, to think that living is only a question of techniques and not of awareness, to project oneself outside without really knowing oneself. All this translates into a psychological impoverishment, which is often less visible than the material one but can do more serious damage “. The quality of our life does not only pass from physical well-being, but also from psychological functioning. “Thoughts, emotions, affects, relationships, behaviors. The family and the school play a fundamental role in bringing out our subjective resources, in the development of our ability to harmonize inner growth with the outer one, in the development of those psychic resources that are increasingly needed but are impoverished. We teach how to read words and count with numbers, but we must also teach reading emotions and dealing with our experiences“
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