World Mental Health Day, October 10, is a reminder of the importance of mental health for the entire population.
“In these times of Covid-19, it is important to pay attention to the impact of the crisis on the mental health of at-risk groups, such as the elderly, children and adolescents, various groups at increased risk of violence, people already being treated for mental illness, as well as health workers, who selflessly invest all their human potential to deal with the pandemic and to preserve and improve the health status of the population,” said the Ministry of Health.
Taking care of our mental health is just as important as taking care of our physical health. In support of this important segment of collective health, the Psychiatric Clinic is actively involved in dealing with the coronavirus and precisely in the direction of promoting mental health. The clinic has opened several telephone lines for different target groups and since March this year, over 4500 telephone conversations have been realized for psychological support of the citizens during the pandemic with Covid 19.
The Psychiatric Clinic informs that an international research on the mental health of the population is underway during the measures for control of the pandemic with this virus. The coordinator of the research is the Italian Association for Social Psychiatry, and the coordinator for our country is the University Clinic for Psychiatry. This study is conducted in order to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the introduced restrictive measures on mental health in our population as a basis for the development of appropriate health interventions.
“In the past period, we have shown real care and numerous activities have been implemented to improve the conditions for treatment of patients in the institutions that treat this category of patients. The University Clinic of Psychiatry is a participant in two international community mental health projects under the European Commission’s Horison 2020 program – IMPULSE run by Queen Mary University of London and RECOVERY run by the Trimbos Institute in Utrecht. “In this period of pandemic with Covid, we have extensive and successful cooperation with UNICEF, as well as coordination with the WHO,” said the Psychiatric Clinic.
On this day we remind once again of the importance of taking care of our mental health, especially during the global pandemic with Covid-19 and appeal to citizens to seek professional help, psychiatrist or psychologist if stress is present during daily activities for a long time and not manage to find a way to deal with it, appeal from the Ministry of Health.
