Covid “veterans”, growing anxiety and panic “As soldiers during war” – EcoDiBergamo.it

The incessant sound of sirens to sound the alarm, day and night. Bulletins of infections transmitted 24 hours a day. And the danger of running into an enemy that has no shape or color. The pandemic has generated a tsunami of psychiatric disorders: it happened with Sars and MERS, to stay in the 2000s, and it occurs even now in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic. Experts estimate that 42% of Italians are at risk of getting sick from “post-traumatic anxiety”, that 30% of those infected already show the first symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and that 24% of health workers at work During the peak of the epidemic is dealing with the emotional overload of those months. These are preliminary data, given that, say psychiatrists, actual PTSD is defined only if symptoms persist after six months of the trauma itself: anxiety, tension, depression, sleep disturbances, cognitive disorders, fluctuating mood, and continuous flashes. back.

But, albeit early, the data paint a very clear picture: in addition to raising the alert level about coronavirus infection, mental health services must also be strengthened. It was debated yesterday, during the National Congress of Psychiatry in Bormio organized by Emi Bondi, director of the mental health department of Asst Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo and by Claudio Mencacci, director of the department of psychiatry of Fatebenefratelli Sacco in Milan. “Post-traumatic stress disorder has distant origins: there was already talk about soldiers, who suffered from anxiety and depression even after the war – explains Emi Bondi -. It is a real disease, with which we now face again. Behind these symptoms there is a complex set of factors: the fear of dying, the fear of pain, the concern of being stigmatized as potential defamatory, the impotence towards an enemy that is neither seen nor seen. she knows how to fight and, finally, there is also the fear of hunger: the fear of suffering the economic consequences of the pandemic.

“Anxiety and panic disorders are destined to increase: it is one of the difficult consequences that this period of emergency will leave us at the psychiatric level – repeats Claudio Mencacci -. Cases of anxiety, sleep disorders and depression, even in severe forms, increase by 30%. And 42% of Italians would be at risk of becoming ill with post-traumatic anxiety due to pain, loss, financial damage, and uncertainty for the future. An emergency not only in Italy, but throughout the world, and the first signs are already affecting the healthcare network, as the World Health Organization has also recalled these days. Those who are infected and healed, but also family members of those who have fallen ill or lost their lives, and healthcare workers, are at the highest risk of being affected by post-traumatic disorder due to the ongoing epidemic. «The elaboration of the mourning in the highlighted period was especially complicated – explains Emi Bondi – because the rituality typical of this phase was lacking: it was not possible to be close to the relatives in the last moments of their life, they could not attend the funeral.

And now many people relive the anguish of those dramas: there are those who still feel a feeling of terror when the phone rings, remembering the fear of being called from the hospital to receive the most feared news. To defend citizens against post-traumatic disorder, however, there are a number of protective factors that experts incorporate into the concept of resilience: those who have emotional stability, those who have family support, those who have strong faith, those who do not have financial difficulties are more resilient, who have a higher degree of education and critical capacity. From the conference in Bormio, in which psychiatrists from all over Italy participated in hybrid mode (in the presence and connection of video), a clear call emerged for a multidisciplinary approach in the study of the consequences of the epidemic in the population and an improvement of mental health services. aimed at the community

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