#BTEditorial – Treating the mental health pandemic

The respected Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), which tracks health issues in the United States and runs its own policy analysis, journalism, and communications programmes, released an important report recently, confirming what many of us suspected about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mental health.

The Foundation revealed that the economic conditions which have been characterised by pervasive joblessness, job insecurity, reduced employment opportunities, financial instability, evictions, poverty, and the rising cost of living, were all contributing to a significant deterioration in the state of persons’ mental health.

It was not surprising to learn that the pandemic had created new barriers for people already suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders.

Statistics gathered by the KFF showed that since the pandemic, about four in ten adults in the United States reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder.

Those figures, the foundation said, have remained largely consistent, and were up from the one in ten adults who reported these symptoms prior to the onset of the pandemic.

We in Barbados have increased the level of discussion on mental health issues in a way that is quite encouraging. No longer is the subject treated as taboo and whispered about or even joked about. People are posting on their social media pages about the subject in a way that is very personal.

And there is also a general acceptance that anxiety over many of the current socio-economic issues can deteriorate into progressively worse mental health conditions.

Doctors and other medical health professionals are speaking out about the mental trauma Barbadians are enduring in this period of lockdown, limited mobility due to curfews, and curtailment of many social and sporting activities.

People’s inability to engage in regular events, such as visit family and friends and socialise in a manner in which they were accustomed, has taken its toll also.

Unfortunately, we have also witnessed a steady stream of suicides on the island over the past two years. Many of them have been young males who are finding it difficult to cope. We are alarmed at increasing reports of suicides, but the public has not been privy to information on the number of attempted suicides.

This publication, earlier in the year, highlighted just how challenged Barbadians have become in their effort to adjust to the post-pandemic existence.

Senior Consultant Psychologist Dr Joy Sue reminded us: “There are a lot of psychological effects that are also happening because of the rapid changes that we have undergone. Some people are just not able to cope with them.”

In fact, she warned that there was a parallel wave of illness, with which those in her profession were grappling.

“We don’t see it, but there is a second pandemic. It is not just in Barbados. It is everywhere that persons are experiencing higher levels of mental health challenges and mental illness,” Dr Sue said.

The numbers are not lying. As the pandemic drags on – and we suspect that come 2022 it may be more of the same – there are increasing admissions to our Psychiatric Hospital, and referrals to community clinics have doubled.

This is a frightening situation that cannot be ignored. And what makes the situation more urgent is the fact that workers on the frontline are also breaking down, Dr Sue pointed out.

For those who are unemployed or under-employed, the anxiety and discomfort of this state of existence, particularly without a proper support system, is a dangerous place in which to be.

In the absence of research and proper statistical data, Dr Sue was not prepared to make categorical statements, but her professional experience caused her to suggest that because the baseline situation today is more stressful than ever, though there are other factors that could trigger someone to harm themselves, the present stresses of the pandemic seem to be leading some people to attempt suicide.

What is helping to mitigate the situation is the increased public attention to the issues. Discussions in the workplace are centred on maintaining a healthy work life balance. The fact that more Barbadian employers are coming around to the idea of flexible work and working from home, helps to ease some of the tension, particularly for mothers of young children.

At the national level, we would expect that Government will lead the effort by drawing greater attention to the issue of mental health, that greater financial and human resources are put into the community mental health programmes, and that the problem of recreational drug use in this country among our young people is put squarely on the front burner.