Mental health cannot be an afterthought during a pandemic.
An assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis is sounding the alarm about the mental health of health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Her advice applies to caregivers in all health care settings, including long-term and post-acute care.
“To an outside observer, health care workers look strong and resilient in the face of the unknown,” writes Dr. Jessica Gold in a column for STAT. “They inspire us as they go to work every day, at great personal risk, to keep others safe.”
But, as a psychiatrist, Gold says she knows many health care workers are “barely keeping it together. They are anxious and they are afraid. They aren’t sleeping and they find themselves crying more than usual. The overall feeling … is one of an impending doom and an existing gloom that is both physically and psychologically palpable.”
To support the mental health of health care workers, experts need to intervene with multifaceted approaches that include:
- Preventive measures like stress reduction, mindfulness, and educational materials.
- In-the-moment measures like hotlines and crisis support.
- Treatment, including telepsychiatry for therapy, and medication, if needed.
These approaches must acknowledge that mental health treatment “is not just something that happens urgently or in crisis, but rather is something that needs to continue and be available long into the future,” writes Gold.
These changes won’t happen overnight, unfortunately.
“Our mental health system is deeply flawed and understaffed and is in no way prepared to manage the onslaught of mental health issues in health care providers and the citizenry in general after such a mass tragedy,” she concludes. “We must think about ways to prevent mental health from deteriorating while also coming up with innovative ways to target at-risk groups, particularly health care workers.”