RECOMMEND

The current public health emergency due to COVID-19 is having an enormous impact at various levels. In addition to the uncertainty of its epidemiological evolution, there is concern about the economic situation related to the lockdown implemented to control it, which involves a radical change in habits and forms of relationship.

Worry about one's own health and that of family or friends can generate fear and become panic when there is a loss of social connections and a feeling of helplessness. These experiences can have a severe impact on vulnerable individuals or when accompanied by grief from sudden losses of relatives without the possibility of saying goodbye. The consequences for psychological balance can be more long-lasting and even lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The FCCSM has always had a proactive, interdisciplinary, and community-based vision of mental health. In current times, it is more important than ever to help protect it and offer hope so as not to reach the end of the acute phase of the pandemic emotionally exhausted. In this way, it will be possible to actively defend with evidence-based arguments the reorientation of the current socioeconomic and cultural model towards caring for people's needs and developing their potential, in line with the WHO's definition of mental health.

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We are proposing a series of information, recommendations, and resources for mental health professionals and the general public:

GENERAL INFORMATION

Below we offer a collection of documents, guides, and various materials that will help us better understand Covid-19, its effects, and how to deal with it as mental health professionals.

About the illness and procedures

Self-protection and mental health measures

Recommendations for mental health and addiction professionals and centers

ASSISTANCE

Healthcare professionals are working under intense caregiving and emotional pressure these days. To provide psychological support for this group and ensure their mental health, several initiatives have emerged, all of them free of charge:

COPC

  • The Official College of Psychology of Catalonia has set up a psychological counseling telephone line for citizens. More information

Galatea Foundation

  • The Galatea Foundation offers a telematic psychological support service for health professionals. More information

Other initiatives

  • The Dignitat Group, a team of mental health professionals (psychologists, doctors, psychoanalysts), offers free telephone support and care for healthcare professionals and the general public. More information
  • The Spanish Psychoanalytic Society (SEP) has launched a volunteer program with various professionals to assist individuals in urgent need of mental health care. More information
  • Web App Application EmotionalManagement.cat to help citizens manage and improve their emotional health in the context generated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Department of Health).

TRAINING 

The lockdown measures derived from the coronavirus have led to the interruption, among others, of in-person psychotherapeutic treatments. It is in this context that it has become necessary to implement and develop other modalities such as treatments online. GRUP Formació is offering free training that we thought was timely and of interest.

OTHERS

Childhood and Family

It is becoming difficult to navigate the lockdown situation we are all experiencing, but we are aware that it is even more so for children who cannot run and go out to play in the parks when they have a special right to play and recreation as established by Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We must also take into account that while many of them can enjoy the company of their parents more than ever, there are those who, because of their professions, have to go out to provide essential services and finding someone to take care of their children in the meantime becomes yet another concern. This lockdown also opens up another gap of social inequality, since there are families living in tiny apartments with little natural light, and for whom the economic effects of this pandemic are further aggravating their situation of vulnerability and poverty. Below you will find a series of initiatives that can help and mitigate, as far as possible, the havoc of this lockdown on our youngest population.

Services and resources

Other articles of interest

Below, we offer a collection of articles, bibliographic references, and resources that can help us in the analysis and treatment of the coronavirus from a mental health perspective.