‘A PERFECT STORM’
Expert paints gloomy picture of mental health during pandemic As you enter times of self-isolation, experts say taking care of your mental health is more important than ever. Help is available.
The daily reporting of cases and deaths.
Record unemployment. People being asked to stay in their homes, isolated from friends and family.
“This is what I call a perfect storm for mental health,” Dr. Edward B. Michalik, administrator of Berks County Mental Health/ Developmental Disabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the public’s health, has completely changed the way people live their lives. It’s impact has been wide-ranging and severe.
And Michalik thinks some of its repercussions haven’t yet been seen.
“When the virus roared into town, mental health and behavioral health took a back seat,” he said. “Naturally, physical health takes precedent, saving lives and flattening the curve. The No. 1 priority was making sure hospital weren’t overwhelmed and as many lives were saved as possible.”
But as businesses were shut down and “stay-at-home” orders were issued — both steps Michalik said were needed — the mental health issues that were pushed to the back burner simmered. And now, as Berks County enters its third month of the coronavirus crisis, they’re starting to
boil over.
According to a national health interview survey done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April, 28% of those who responded showed signs of mental illness. That number is more eight times the 3.4% reported in 2018.
And, Michalik said, of those 28% about 7 in 10 showed signs of moderate to severe mental illness.
Michalik said Berks has yet to see an explosion of requests for mental health services or suicides. In fact, between March 1 and May 20 of this year there were actually two fewer suicides than during the same span last year, according the the Berks County coroner’s office.
Expecting the worst
That doesn’t mean problems aren’t coming.
Michalik said the number of calls to crisis centers have been going up slowly, that requests for services have been steadily growing.
“We’re right in the cusp where we’re beginning to see the rise,” he said. “I predict that it will break free.”
Michalik said that over the next few weeks and months he expects to see crisis calls and suicides
jump and coronavirus mitigation efforts continue to have an impact.
“One of the things that is really alarming to me is the model to fight the disease, the social distancing, really decreases human contact,” he said. “We need it to prevent the spread of the disease, but one of the biggest adverse factors for suicide risk is people feeling removed from others.
“The very strategy being used to stem the tide of the disease is one of the pillars that leads to suicide.”
Reaching the victims
The county’s Suicide Prevention Taskforce is taking steps to make sure that those who are facing mental health challenges can get help. Billboards have been springing up across Berks reminding people that despite the uncertain times help is still out there.
The billboards direct people to the county’s suicide prevention website ruokberks.com. The site offers help both with suicide risk and other mental health issues.
“We want people to know we’re there,” Michalik said. “We want them to know it’s normal to feel stress right now.”
Efforts like the billboard campaign may become harder to do, however. Michalik said he is expecting this year’s state budget to be “the worst
budget in history.”
With COVID-19 taking a huge bite out of tax revenues and creating a host of added costs, Michalik
said he fears mental health providers will see their funding cut just as the need for their services skyrocket.