DOCTOR IS IN by Dr. Adil Manzoor OP/ED
The World Health Organization conducted a study in 2020 to evaluate the major disruptions to critical mental health services. The study involved 130 countries, and the result showed that over 60% had disruptions to mental health services for vulnerable people.
What’s more damning about the research is the spread across children and adults. 72% reported disruptions to mental health services for children, 70% for older adults, and 61% for women requiring antenatal and postnatal services.
Now, this is a report from August 2020. Back when we were still a few hundred thousand in global deaths. Fast forward to 2022, and more than 5.6 million people have lost their lives from 363 million cases.
Let me riddle you with this. Back when “only” hundreds of thousands of people had died from the virus, many countries had disruptions in their mental health services. These would have only gotten worse as the strain on hospitals increased, and beds were stockpiled with infected individuals. Then, many people that needed mental health services couldn’t access them. And, remember, that was at the beginning stages of the pandemic. So, how much more people do you think will have been deprived of mental health services as the pandemic worsened and the death toll increased?
One way or the other, COVID has affected us all – physically, financially, academically, and, of course, mentally. But I believe many people underestimate the mental stress the virus has taken on many of us. Yes, I’m saying us because I identify with mentally challenged individuals. But, seriously, imagine going to packed emergency rooms every day for months, and when we eventually got a solution to the problem, many kicked against it because they didn’t want to be “zombies.”
875,000 people have died in the United States since the start of the pandemic. This means at least 875,000 families have suffered a loss. And when you start to draw lines, you’d see that far more families must have been affected by these losses. The feeling of losing a loved one is dreadful. Some lost more than one. Some had their entire family wiped from the earth’s surface. Eventually, this would have taken some kind of toll on their health – physical and mental.
Imagine the children that have become orphans because of the pandemic. Or the wives who have become widows. Or the parents who have become childless. Or… I could go on all day, but you get the point by now. Many have suffered great losses because of the pandemic. These losses have brought negative emotions, represented by a barrage of mental challenges.
Speaking about mental health is always tricky because of how crazy the subject is. You may have a mental disease without you even realizing it until it’s too late. There’s even this saying that “we all have something.”
COVID is not going away anytime soon; probably never, in fact. So we have to find a way to deal with the mental challenges it brings. There’s no trivial mental challenge. Estimates suggest that 14.3% of deaths worldwide, which corresponds to about 8 million deaths annually, is attributable to mental disorders. Starting from the commonest ones, like depression and anxiety, to the rare ones, like Koro syndrome, they are all terrible.
The effect of the coronavirus on adults and children alike is one I cannot overstate. So you may beat the virus, but not its mental accomplices. At this point, it becomes pertinent to get our mental services working on overdrive. It’s time to start cutting our losses.
If you need help, please seek help. I beg you. Stay safe.
This article was written by Dr. Adil Manzoor DO, a Board Certified Internist & Board Eligible Pediatrician, who works as a Hospitalist, and Emergency Room Physician. He is also the current President of Garden State Street Medicine, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to provide free preventive and acute urgent care services for the homeless. He is also the co-founder of his own unique medical practice Mobile Medicine NJ.
References
· https://www.risingkash mir.com/-Third-year-of-a-pandemic–What-are-the-mental-health-implications–99635
· https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/32298385/
· https://www.who.int/news/item/05-10-2020-covid-19-disrupting-mental-health-services-in-most-countries-who-survey#:~:text=Bere avement%2C%20isolation%2C%20loss,outcomes%20and%20even%20death.
