COVID-19

The Looming Mental Health Crisis in a Post-COVID-19 World

April 14, 2020

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-KEERTHANA CHAVALY (ASSISTANT EDITOR)

With the onset of COVID-19, one of the most popular slogans accompanying its spread is “flatten the curve”. The curve in question shows the importance of ensuring a slow and measured spread of the virus to ensure that healthcare workers and hospitals have enough resources – such as beds, ventilators and manpower – to treat COVID-19 cases instead of being overwhelmed by a large number of cases in a short period of time, leading to a scarcity of available resources. While certain countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have successfully managed to flatten the curve, unfortunately, other countries like Spain, Italy and the United States have failed to do so, showing the devastating effects of COVID-19 not only on the general population but also on the mental health of healthcare professionals.

Flattening the Curve | Source : New York Times

As the total number of COVID-19 cases crosses one million and healthcare systems are overwhelmed, healthcare workers – such as doctors and nurses – are having to grapple with an additional, pressing problem: mental ill-health. There have been accounts of doctors breaking down from exhaustion, of nurses getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients left to be treated and the emotional toll of healthcare providers having to self-isolate from their own families.

The problem of mental ill-health among healthcare workers is not new – even before the coronavirus pandemic took over, the state of mental health among doctors was already a pressing problem – burnout from long hours of working, high levels of stress as well as depression and anxiety have been plaguing doctors, resulting in a high number of suicides. According to a study conducted by the Indian Medical Association, “the life expectancy of an Indian is 67.9 years and that of a Malayali is 74.9 years. The mean ‘age of death’ for a Malayali doctor is 61.75 years” and around 1% of the 10,000 doctors studied died by suicide. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization Mental Health Atlas 2017, India does not have a suicide prevention strategy, despite having the highest number of suicides in South East Asia.

With an increase in the number of over-worked, exhausted and mentally drained healthcare providers, critical attention must be paid to devise mental health interventions in a context where doctors are reluctant to seek help for their mental health owing to factors both social, such as stigma attached to mental disorders; and logistical, such as long working hours that leave no time for self-care.

Messages of Hope | Source : World Economic Forum

When the world returns to normalcy after the pandemic has passed and healthcare providers are not as overwhelmed with work as they currently are, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and the emotional toll of higher than normal patient deaths will only serve to worsen the dire mental health conditions of these professionals. In such a situation, it is important to plan to address the psychological needs of doctors, nurses and allied workers while also paying attention to the current healthcare policies in India. According to Dr Sagar Mundada, a psychiatrist, currently, “the budget allocated for mental health is 0.05 per cent of the total healthcare budget. The average percentage of the total healthcare budget allocated to mental health in developed countries is at least 5 per cent”. Acting before it is too late is imperative – reports of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of doctors are starting, and these reports are worrisome. In fact, Paula Madrid, a psychologist who is treating doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic, says that doctors are already “in a mental health crisis”.

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