Multidisciplinary approach needed to tackle mental health care: WHO official
In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Dr. Ledia Lazeri, mental health adviser at WHO Europe, said COVID-19 made it clear «that all of us are vulnerable, and that no one of us can afford, or allow mental health to remain in the shadows,» Anadolu Agency reports.
She said the pandemic affected everyone including young people as schools were shut down, interrupting their development; and health care professionals who had to work in overwhelming conditions, often leading to a burnout.
The elderly population was also affected since lockdowns disrupted the social connection they need.
«There is virtually no one among the general public that has not experienced a mental health problem or seen in the surroundings or in the loved ones how vulnerable each and every one of us can be,» Lazeri said.
According to her, the global health community in the last few decades has made efforts to improve mental health treatment and care, but the progress has been slower than intended.
She shared that in 2020, WHO Europe formed the Mental Health Coalition to promote mental health as a critical priority for public health.
It includes professionals such as psychologists and social workers, people with lived experiences, people with mental health conditions, their careers, organizations that work in the area of mental health.
«It is not only that we need a stronger voice for mental health, but we also need stronger arms,« Lazeri said. «So, if we are together, we are able to provide this very complex answer what people with mental health conditions need ... (as) medication is only one part of a very complex treatment.«
The WHO adviser said mental health care has always been «underfunded, under prioritized, and under resourced.«
»We have always had across all the countries in the world, less resources than we needed for mental health,» said Lazeri, explaining why mental health stayed in the shadows for years.
Integrated to primary health care
Lazeri said mental health care is not always accessible to everyone and for making it so it «should be integrated to primary health care.»
She argued that «traditionally, psychiatric services are concentrated into highly specialized facilities» and citizens often have to travel to access those services.
«But not all citizens have the means to travel. And not all citizens are able to travel because, for instance, they might be suffering from a disability or a mental health condition. So, the response is that we need to bring the service to the citizen,» she said.
If WHO member states allow integrating mental health care into primary health care, early detection of mental health conditions can be possible since «prevention is the best cure,» Lazeri said.
«Instead of having a citizen that has developed a mental health condition, being at home alone, and going to the specialized psychiatric services, when the mental health condition has advanced, we have the chance of having the mental health condition be detected from the beginning,» she said.
Expanding the network of «community-based mental health services» is an important step for mental health care to be more accessible, said Lazeri.
«If we can have more psychiatrists in the community on the primary care level, if we can have more psychologists, more social workers, then we can surround the citizen with a package of services,» she said.
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