THE reopening, consequent to the improvement of the pandemic trend, not only represent the possibility of a resumption of economic and social activities, but also have a positive effect on the psyche of an important part of Italians. Coinciding with May, the month of mental health.
This time we will appreciate even more behaviors that were previously experienced almost as a simple routine. Being able to meet with others, return to school in person, go to restaurants, attend cinemas, theaters, museums, resume sporting activities, have the pleasure of being able to think about returning to travel after a long period of deprivation, are psychopills of optimism. But not for everyone.
Covid, the survivor’s drama: “I did it, but alone”
by Tina Simoniello
Those suffering from social anxiety will have an even greater fear of relating, with the additional possibility of the fear of being infected precisely following the reopening, asking themselves continuous questions about the duration of immunization of vaccines and their effectiveness in relation to the growing variants. Those who took refuge during the pandemic inside a bubble as a defensive screen, organizing their life in a retreated way, will have a hard time succeeding. For others, even the return to normality can represent a danger, if not accepted even in pre-Covid time, in particular for the youngest who have suffered an interruption in their growth path.
Covid. Panic: when fear overwhelms us like a tsunami
by Irma D’Aria
But the most alarming data from a psychic point of view is represented by those who have lost their jobs or who will be able to lose it with the return of the possibility of being fired, by those who can be evicted without having alternative solutions, by those suffering from the after-effects of Covid. 19, by those who have lost a loved one, by those who have been for over a year without stopping on the health and civil front. For all these people the psychological pandemic will have a longer resolution time, with the need to implement the response capacity of the public health services, impoverished by years of cuts. The Recovery Plan also mentions mental health as an area of territorial intervention, but in order to be able to respond to the old and new mental illness it is necessary to immediately invest in recruitment and training plans, following the principle of social and health integration. The virus is democratic in the contagion phase, but the rebirth appears uneven.
Massimo Cozza is a psychiatrist, Director of the Asl Roma 2 Mental Health Department
Covid, the psychological impact on those with cancer
by Tina Simoniello
.