Experts call for ‘post-pandemic stress disorder’ to be officially recognised
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Although post-pandemic stress disorder is not yet included in the international classification of mental disorders it should be, say scientists from the Medical University of Silesia.
Referencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a group of mental disorders resulting from increased stress, anxiety and trauma related to unpleasant life experiences, psychiatrists and psychologists have noticed an increase in the number of people with similar symptoms related to COVID-19.
Dr. Mateusz Grajek from the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice said: “We are talking about symptoms such as a long-term mood decline and stress resulting from what the COVID-19 disease has brought: loneliness, interruption of interpersonal relations, trauma related to own illness or illness and death of a loved one.”
Researchers from the Department of Public Health conducted a survey among corporate employees, people who by definition have a lot of contact with remote work.
Dr. Grajek said: “According to this survey, employees assessed their well-being as much worse with the development of the epidemiological situation, and even developed symptoms indicative of the early stages of depression.”
The second study group consisted of cancer patients. In these patients - to a greater extent in women - the level of fear related to the risk of infection increased significantly, especially when comparing the first and second waves of the pandemic.
Child psychiatrist and head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Developmental Age of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Professor Małgorzata Janas-Kozik, added that the pandemic has exacerbated mental problems in society, increasing the group of children in need of professional help by 30 percent. (PAP)
autorka: Anna Gumułka
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