This report, supported by the analysis and compendium of a large number of studies, determined that there was a 27.6% increase in cases of major depressive disorder in the world in 2020 alone.
“In terms of proportions, this is a big increase”warned Brandon Gray, from the WHO Department of Mental Health and Drug Addiction, who coordinated the scientific report.
The work “demonstrates that the coronavirus has had a strong impact on people’s mental health and well-being.”
The biggest increases were seen in places hard hit by the virus, with high rates of daily infections and decreased mobility.
Women were more affected than men, and particularly in a range between 20 and 24 years.
In contrast, the data regarding suicides was mixed and did not show major differences in global rates since the start of the pandemic.
Statistics from some countries show suicide rates on the rise, but in others they decreased or remained unchanged.
Gray cautioned that there is often a delay in collecting and analyzing such statistics. “I don’t think these results should be taken as an indicator that suicidal behaviors are not a concern,” he cautioned.
The data shows that there is an increased risk of suicidal behaviors, including suicide attempts and self-harm, among youth since the beginning of the health crisis.
In addition, it was shown that exhaustion among health workers, loneliness and positive diagnoses for covid-19 increase the possibility of harboring suicidal thoughts.
The study also concluded that those with mental disorders had a higher risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19.
Gray also stressed that more research is needed to establish this link.
One reason, he suggested, could be that those with mental disorders may lead less healthy and active lifestyles, with higher rates of smoking, substance abuse and obesity than the general public.
The study released Wednesday also shows that outpatient mental health services were hit hard in 2020 by the pandemic.
In many cases, these problems were mitigated by online health care services.
Difficulties in responding to mental health challenges amid the pandemic were largely due to a consistent “underinvestment” in such services before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, according to Gray.
“Decades of underinvestment are evident in our unpreparedness to address the scale of the problem”he added.
Source: Ambito
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