(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Joelyn Baluyut |
The Peninsula
With COVID-19 cases rising in the country, increasing number of people dealing with mental health is seen, according to Middle East Psychological Association Qatar Chapter (MEPA).
MEPA Director and Flourishing Minds, Co-Founder, Tina Balachandran told The Peninsula that there's a growing number of people that are dealing with depression and anxiety.
“This is not only in Qatar but it's a global experience of everyone,” she explained.
Balachandran who is a clinical psychologist by profession disclosed:“It's okay for us to talk about mental health and it's okay not to feel okay now. Reaching out doesn't makes us weak, it means you need help.
“This is a difficult time, there's a lot of uncertainties, stress and it's very understandable that someone who is dealing more changes in the mood, stress, anxiety and worry.”
“This is the time to reach out to friends, families, and talk about your thoughts, feelings, emotions and reach out to mental health professionals if you feel that it can be very helpful,” she added.
According to The Lancet, which is among the world's oldest and best-known medical journals:“The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment where there are many determinants of poor mental health are exacerbated.”
It further stated that before 2020, mental disorders were leading causes of the global health-related burden, with depressive and anxiety disorders being leading contributors to this burden.
In its recent study, it revealed that females were affected more by the pandemic than males and younger age groups were more affected than older age groups. An additional 53.2 million cases of major depressive disorder globally were tallied due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While 76.2 million cases of anxiety disorders globally.
Balachandran, moreover, discussed the five steps to mental well-being.“The five ways of well-being is being able to be active, connect, notice what's happening around us, being able to give to community, and to keep learning in the whole process. And the pandemic has kind of taken away some of those elements.”
“The challenges that people are facing are still the challenges that we were facing before.
“The pandemic has just exacerbated or made it harder to cope because routine and other elements which were on the structure system are probably not on the same way,” she explained.
The MEPA Director also highlighted that in the country alone, the government and private sector are doing their best to address issue.
“In Qatar, there is a lot of initiatives supporting the mental health from the government side.
“Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) now has the 16000 hotline where you can go and talk to mental health professionals. Widyan was started by a Qatari, so it shows local commitment to mental health. There are a lot of initiatives coming up where mental health will be a priority in Qatar,” she concluded.
HMC's National Mental Health Helpline is staffed by a team of mental health professionals who can provide assessment and support to the callers through four main categories: Children and parents, adults, older people and frontline healthcare workers. It is available from 9am to 2pm.
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