Interview with the president of the National Council of the order, David Lazzari
Pierpaolo La Rosa
Quality of life and health of individuals are intimately linked to the psychological dimension. It was discussed at the conference, in Rome, entitled “The psyche at the center of life”, organized by the National Council of the Order of Psychologists, as part of the National Psychology Day 2021. A moment to also take stock of the situation on the consequences of Covid-19 on people’s psyche. We talk about it with the president of the National Council of the order of psychologists, David Lazzari.
Professor Lazzari, what have been the psychological effects of the pandemic so far?
“They are significant effects. The latest data from October testify to this. There is a study, which collects 29 researches carried out around the world, according to which before the pandemic it was estimated that depressive symptoms, internationally, concerned 12.9 percent of the population under 18 years of age. age. We are now at 25.2 per cent: the share has doubled. Also before the pandemic, anxiety symptoms affected 11.6 percent of the population under 18. Now, we’re at 20.5 percent. As for clinically major disorders – we are not speaking, therefore, more only of depressive symptoms – there was an increase of 27.1 per cent in the population over 18, from the pre-pandemic to the post-pandemic phase. In this same period, anxiety disorders increased by 25.2 percent, again in the population over the age of 18 ”.
On minors, then, there are other decidedly worrying numbers.
“That’s right. On 4 October, UNICEF published a world report, according to which one in three minors has a situation of psychological distress, one in five has depressive symptoms and one in seven has a structured psychological pathology. There is a malaise that is very widespread ”.
How do you respond to this situation?
“In two ways: with services that deal with the care of people suffering from a more significant disorder and with strategies to prevent and promote resilience. The data from the World Health Organization, released a few days ago, tells us that in the 47 high-income countries, including Italy, there are on average 10.7 psychologists for every 100,000 inhabitants in mental health services. In Italy – the data are from the Ministry of Health – we have for mental health, on average, 5.3 psychologists for every 100,000 inhabitants: this is one for every 20,000 ”.
There is also the question of the Protocol with the Ministry of Education, to include psychologists in schools, which has not been renewed for this school year.
“It hasn’t been renovated yet. With these worrying data, provided by international agencies such as Unicef, which tell us that 25 per cent of children have anxious depressive symptoms, we must do a preventive work, a widespread support action in schools ”.
If politics does not intervene, what could happen?
“We would pay a huge cost. Meanwhile, we would find ourselves at a disadvantage compared to other countries such as England, Germany, France in which they are intervening. A structural disadvantage that could become a social and economic problem ”.
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