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’Psychological impact of Covid-19 could be SA’s second wave’

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Five months into lockdown, the impact on the mental health of South Africans has been immense and there is an urgent need for mental health experts to be included on national task teams to deal with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SA Depression and Anxiety Group issued this warning as desperate callers to their helpline have doubled since lockdown started and continue to climb.

This is an average of just over 1500 calls a day in June and, Chambers said, “these are just incoming calls - this doesn’t account for the outgoing calls we make to people who email, SMS or WhatsApp us for help”.“The impact of Covid-19 has affected people’s livelihoods and they are really struggling, so we’re getting more calls regarding depressions, anxiety, loneliness and even suicide.”

“And considering South Africa does not have enough mental health resources to begin with, we should be taking mental wellness very seriously if we are hoping to mitigate the dire consequences of not prioritising mental health.” Added to this was the issue of those who tested positive and had to isolate, along with the loneliness, fear of infecting others, stress and stigma.

 

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