The invisible third wave is already rolling over Germany

reThe corona pandemic and its fight cause gigantic costs, not just financial. According to World Bank estimates, another 150 million people in developing and emerging countries will sink into absolute poverty this year and next, putting their diet and survival at risk. No one in this country is threatened by this, but here too the consequences for many people are immense.

Because in addition to the economic losses, many also suffer psychologically from the situation. How strong is shown by two studies that have just been published. As a result, burdens have increased considerably and a not small part of the population has been plunged into serious psychological problems.

This occurs in the context that mental illnesses have already increased considerably in recent years. The costs to the health system and the national economy now threaten to rise further.

“In view of past experience with emergencies, it is expected that the need for psychological and psychosocial support will increase significantly in the months and years to come,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a message on the occasion of World Health Day. Mental health. which takes place this Saturday. As plausible as it may be, it is also unclear how big the problems societies face are.

The Axa Group, which is also one of the largest private health insurers in Germany, has commissioned a study to investigate the mental well-being and psyche of people in crisis. And the results are worrying.

“Mental problems are the third invisible wave of the corona pandemic”, says Alexander Vollert, director of the Axa Group in Germany, summarizing the results of the research at the European level. “A third of Germans experienced a deterioration in their mental health during the Corona crisis.”

Different population groups are affected to different degrees. Particularly concerning: People already suffering from mental health problems are struggling much more severely with the crisis. Of them, 45 percent said that in recent months they felt they had lost control of their own lives. In contrast, it is only 15 percent of those surveyed with no prior mental illness.

Extroverts are also more at risk than introverts – they need more to get out and meet other people. Age also plays a role: the older the person, the more they suffer psychologically. And for everyone who also had to go through a relationship crisis during this time, that increased.

However, Germany is still doing relatively well in a European comparison. In this country, only 25 percent said that during the crisis they felt at least partially that they had lost control of their lives.

In Switzerland it is a third, in Britain half and in Italy 57 percent say yes. There, however, the blocking measures were also the harshest.

Another indication of the extent of the psychological devastation caused by measures to contain the pandemic is a study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. It asked a total of 87,477 people in the 27 EU countries, first in April and then again in July, how they assess their psychological situation. In April, there were strict curfews everywhere, and in July there was extensive easing. The differences are considerable.

On average, mental well-being among EU citizens increased during this time by four points on a scale of 0 to 100, from 49 to 53. This includes statements on five questions related to mental state.

Germany is quite in line with the average of the 27 EU countries. As expected, the jump was most pronounced in states that had imposed a particularly tough blockade. Among the age groups, there were significant improvements, especially among people over 50 years of age, which corresponds to the results of the Axa study, according to which this population group is the most affected by the crisis.

However, particularly low levels of mental well-being were still found among those who had lost their jobs. It’s obvious.

At the same time, however, it became clear that those who had moved to the central office during the crisis had a marked increase in stress. Every eighth feels isolated, every quarter feels emotionally drained. Every third person has the feeling that they cannot cope with their workload or feel exhausted after work.

Women appear to be particularly psychologically stressed, as shown in both surveys. When it comes to mental well-being, their values ​​are far below those of men, and in Axa’s study, too, 44 ​​percent of women stated that their challenges and problems in life have increased due to the crisis of the crown.

Just under one in three men said this. “Women particularly suffer the triple burden of work and family and also of closed schools,” says Axa’s boss, Vollert.

In his opinion, the crown crisis acts as a catalyst in terms of mental problems. Therefore, it advocates doing everything possible not to lose those affected. It is primarily about human destiny, but also about economic impact.

Even before the crisis, 12 percent of Germans suffered from severe mental illness, by far the highest figure in the EU. And now it could increase even more.

“Even today, mental health problems are the third most common reason for inability to work,” says Vollert. This affects 15 percent of all sick leave. Furthermore, these sick leave take a particularly long time, an average of 33.7 days. Mental illness is the cause in more than a third of work disability cases.

According to an OECD report, in 2018 the economic costs of mental illness for the entire EU of the 28 countries at the time amounted to 600 billion euros per year. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, compulsory health insurance funds spend 44 billion euros a year just on treating these diseases.

Vollert, Axa’s boss, sees a ray of hope. The survey also shows that more attention is paid to the issue and that people are more willing to address it. This needs to be addressed by making more and more low-threshold deals for early treatment, especially digitally. So perhaps at least some of the psychological damage caused by the pandemic could be limited.