You have to be able to relate to the feeling in. The right way. I think is the light and its my job to shed light on how and why. What do we know about the long term impact coronavirus has on Peoples Mental Health locked down in isolation have led to unprecedented levels of Anxiety Stress and depression so what is the psychological cost of the pandemic this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program. Depression affected more than 264000000 people worldwide and suicide was the 2nd leading death among young people that was before the pandemic before distance and isolation became our new experience of life before grieving loved ones without being able to say goodbye and before the sudden loss of jobs. Such difficult experiences have led to elevated levels of stress and anxiety experts say they warn of a potential rise in suicides and drug abuse and a possible psychological cost in the coming years after the pandemic is over Human Rights Watch has urged governments to expand Mental Health Care Services and the u. N. Says facilities already lacking resources and people fleeing violence are of particular concern the u. N. Secretary general says depression and anxiety are some of the greatest causes of misery in the world hes launched a Mental Health policy brief this is what antonio terrace has appealed for in his video message Mental Services that an essential part of all government response is to cover the 19 they must be expended and fully funded boluses must support of cared for those affected by mental most conditions and protect their human rights and dignity lockdowns and quite in times must not the screaming made against those with poor mental hills as we cover from the pandemic we must shift to more Mental Services of the community and make sure Mental Illness is included in universal Health Coverage that brief points to surveys that show an estimated 3 fold increase in symptoms of depression among youth e. O. P. And since the start of the outbreak an increase in distress among 45 percent of people surveyed in the us that went up to 60 percent in iran those most at risk are medical staff overwhelmed by patients and worried about the risk of infection people facing stigma for contracting the virus are at a heightened risk of posttraumatic stress disorder so are those who lost family members or became unemployed experts warn more people are using substances and alcohol sales have increased. People in conflict zones urgently need support for example south sudan has one Mental Health professional for every 4000000 people. All right lets bring in our guests from london donna dawson a psychologist specializing in personality and behavior and from bangalore is critic sharma a Senior Researcher in the Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch and from day 2 it is may soon have a social psychology consultant thank you all for joining us pretty let me start with you schumann rights watch says one widespread consequence of the covert 1000 pandemic that we cannot afford to neglect is its toll on Mental Health so let me ask you how much of a toll has the pandemic taken on Mental Health so far we did a survey looking really asking caregivers and students what their experience has been on the coke and how they have been impacted and the overwhelming response was that families was struggling but overwhelmed with anxiety panic attacks exhaustion and that the Mental Health impact of it has been devastating it is sad that we have seen around the world done of the United Nations has warned that the krona virus pandemic could cause a global Mental Health crisis what do you think will that happen or has the crisis already begun. Yes i think its already been i think helplines in this country and im sure all through europe and in america theyve doubled and tripled phone calls about anxiety panic fear. These things are happening in families to individuals to people who have had disease in the family and to those who havent because those who have a girlfriend to go to get it and i think i think its impacted some communities more i think the news that but an ethnic minority groups are more highly affected by code it has affected that much more in terms of anxiety because there is a feeling of helplessness what can we do and the children are picking up on that as well in fact the young muslim helpline over here i think had a 300 percent increase in calls from worried children who obviously have parents that have fallen ill or relatives and theyre worried now for themselves which is unlike other groups which havent had as much contact with the illness maysoon who are the people currently most vulnerable to Mental Health distress. Yes according according to what we are facing in lebanon and all over the world we can see. The means to categories in society that are being affected on the basis of Mental Health our childrens and of the children and adolescents and the elderly why because we know that you need you to all people and people who are facing certain physical problems and Health Problems they are afraid of being affected or being. Of catching this this virus which might cause. Severe illness or might lead to death so they are afraid. As a category especially according to certain societies and according to what media has assured the. Ability in hospitals and the medical care and especially we are we are facing. A pandemic and a disease that is still strains and we know nothing about the consequences and how to face this pandemic and also according to another sense why we speak about the dollars and because at this time or due to the Southern Charm or the trauma that is taking place and according to the social distancing sometimes they cannot understand whats going on according to their to the fear they are facing and according to whats going on and especially they are being locked down with their families and they are being at the same place where the people or the i think people they usually fight with them or try to escape from them and concerning the children because they dont know how to cope with certain tools that will take place like their like they are afraid of. Losing their patents they dont know how to take care of them selves and being a little or locked in the house as well and being away from their school and their digital team donna you heard me soon just speak about the toll that this is taking on children especially children who arent at school right now you know so many countries have closed schools this is disrupted routines for parents as well as children how much of a toll is this taking on those families well this is an interesting point because for those children who dont have any connection to the illness its difficult for them to understand unless theyre teenagers and a lot of the younger children are suffering mostly from boredom and frustration at not seeing their friends but whats happening ive noticed is that mothers and dads who are trying to be substitute teachers are finding it very difficult to step into that role now and children are getting very frustrated having to use computers for homework having to deal with all the work that some teachers are piling up on them a lot of this is kind of work thats ad hoc to keep the kids minds busy the kids are getting very anxious about completing tasks about where theyre going to fall in the ratings when they get back to school how they drop back before this general anxiety is from kids from about 8 to 14 ive noticed and so basically were compelling issue by trying to keep them. Busy and mentally stimulated are there a lot of children are getting terribly frustrated with the way theyre having to do work at the moment and thats at anxiety so in some senses its not helping them the way theyre having to be educated at school because some kids for instance who are addicted to computers because of gaming and i have a grandson of 14 thats falls into that category he will go onto the computer hell pretend to start his homework and then go straight to the game and you would have to stand over him all day so basically its increasing the dependency and the. Session im not helping with the homework at all so for him hes had to be taken off the computer and weve had to ask the school to send paperwork they havent been able to do so the whole system is flawed and kids are getting upset with that now as opposed to just with the illness so for those who dont have any contact with the illness the prostate inside out home with having to be regimented with work with having to feel a failure if they havent done it to try and complete it and to try to do some work theyve never seen before and for my daughter the parents that are involved so frustrating very difficult and thats increasing the parental anxiety as well. From your perspective our governments around the world heeding calls d like the ones Human Rights Watch has made to expand Mental Health care for their citizens. Its a very important question we are so it was responded to by over 200 people from across 54 countries and what we find is that the corporate pandemic has really exposed how broken the Mental Health system is. And middle Income Countries to where the nations there is a real dearth of Mental Health services as if now the system is really centered around crisis care if you have a Mental Health condition which one in 4 people have and you need support in most countries you will find either in counseling or in places like a Psychiatric Hospital and what happens. Is you cant even do in in bus and counseling its very difficult for caregivers like mothers to even call that therapist on the forward while you have your husband in the next room or your kids doing their homework at the dining table and so we really find that this has exposed the cracks and the weaknesses the governments i yet to respond in adequate man now we see an example like the new Zealand Government which has really committed to addressing this issue and not just in terms of budget but also providing Services Emergency Mental Health services under corbett however the situation is very different in low Income Countries where the crisis is compounded by social isolation broken welfare state and of course a humanitarian crisis when so many have lost jobs and are affected by poverty and because of it may soon theres so much anxiety and uncertainty in the world right now im wondering can i agree that people experience develop into Anxiety Disorders or into depression. Let us be a little bit clear concerning this question and concerning anxiety and depression and panic attack theres something very important we must know and whenever people they are facing certain trauma many of the psychological or Mental Health symptoms appear to. Suddenly the appear because. Our our. Strategy or the way we face the tall man its different among people thats why we cannot say that each trauma or call that 19 might lead to depression suddenly with people it might lead to depression with people who have the symptoms they carried the symptoms according to different lifestyle and they used to live in the cording to the previous. History. With their families and during their lifetime. 19 might lead out or its a way out to assure these anxieties and social the depression or does it suddenly make us lead to depression according to my school the Analytical School i can see its related to my previous history and previous lifetime i. Lived and according to the way i respond to the trauma and how i deal with problems but what we can what we are sure about and we can see that we are pretty sure about is that it might lead to certain obstacles concerning the doubts concerning future and the uncertainty because what happens if you 2 come in 1000. 00 and you 2 trauma taking place it leaves out to all the fears to come out and start thinking about how we are going to live the life we love to. Are we going to go back to our routine because you know that people about the according to a certain social routine concerning going to their word their. Social relationships hanging out with friends according to children their physical activity is the School Routine so how we are going to live after this spend them make is finished are we going to go back or that is another lifestyle and you lifestyle are going to face these this uncertainty and the fears we are facing i think it needs to be it needs it needs to be. Thinking any we must think about may soon and i just will cheer and it u. Conns the health care and its funding to the Mental Health and the aid we can give a soon im sorry to the uncertain refuse when i want to pick up on a point you were making about the kind of trauma that people are experiencing and i want to ask donna specifically about stigma when it comes to people whove recovered from coburg 19 what kind of stigma could those whove recovered from cope with 1000 face from their communities from family members from colleagues perhaps. Thats a strange word to use for a survival from such you know this i think in this country people are looked at and service heroic for having survived it i dont see that stigma and i think if people were to stigmatize them they would maybe be laboring under the false belief that they could still catch the disease i dont i dont i dont see that word in British Society particularly i think if were talking to children and anxiety i was a scene quite intently to the last conversation children have a huge capacity to recover they get back to any kind of sense of normality now where were going to have to be entering a new form of reality a kind of adjustment form in terms of the measures were going to have to put in place for some length of telling but i think children will take their example on how difficult they are there. Parents if one is sent home a majestic stride the children will feel more reassured and i think we need to keep talking to children in language they understand but at the same time only they will be on social media theres an awful lot of stuff on social media that isnt correct that will found their fears and i think parents need to be the stabilizing force here i think if you were depressed before cope it certainly is going to make those symptoms worse but i dont see it as creating long term a permanent depression in people particular children who were detected before because were all going to have to adjust to a new reality is just some of us so were all in this together so this youre no longer outside the system feeling isolated different with fears that are unfounded and only pertain to you that isnt happening when youre depressed you seem to feel overwhelmed by things you cant control well were all in that same position so i think yes there will be anxiety but i dont think its going to lead to anything thats permanently damaging because were all working together to help each other and the world is going to get as we print go forward through the pandemic the world is going to get slightly better in a lot of ways so we will get to a new know about libby with some specifications on how to keep ourselves safe a pretty i want to ask you specifically about one of the most vulnerable populations in the world and that would be refugees would be migrants who would be the displaced has the survey that human rights rights watch has done encompassed voices from those communities and what are you finding if you have been hearing from them how concerned are they and what kind of a toll has this taken on their Mental Health. Thats it thats a great question and in fact i would like to say that the pledge is still. Open and we are trying to gather voices from around the world so you know those of you listening we would love for you to go to the Human Rights Watch website and take the selfie as of now you know amongst the responses we have we havent had a lot of responses from refugee communities they do not always have access to technology and to do you know especially in under covered situations but what is really important i think to highlight is the Mental Health you know trauma that they deal with on a daily basis in refugee camps in camps when done displaced people when they face significant challenges you know just take greece for example in europe. Refugees in greece are facing a Mental Health crisis for the last few years you know when they come in from syria when they come in from conflict affected areas and then the uncertainty about their future they dont receive support even the basics like food Water Education is a struggle in these camps and thats their daily routine i think they are definitely amongst the most actress under the pandemic but i think lets not forget also the other parts of the population and i want to do im going to just come back to the point of stigma that you raised i think this crisis gives you know all of us an insight into what it feels like to be locked up at home what it feels like to face this anxiety and uncertainty and that is something that people with Mental Health conditions are dealing with around the world on a daily basis i have investigated Mental Health issues for the last 9 years and you know everybody from you know looking at cases of people who were chained to trees or locked up in go chad in indonesia do people Aboriginal People dying in custody in australia this is a view. Aleksey for people with Mental Health conditions around the world and i think thats really you know what we would love for governments to take away from this crisis is how can we support these people who are most at risk who even today remain invisible and when left out of the Quick Response may soon is the fact that Mental Health is being discussed more openly right now a sign of progress from your perspective on this front. Yes of course and this is what the increase and caused that the hotline is receiving all over the counter is not only in specific countries yes people now are open to speak about Mental Health and often speak about their problems because out of a sudden they are facing something that they cannot you know how to interpret their feelings or to speak about it. And but this is a still different among societies and according to the cultural environment we are living with let me estates something very important concerning the Cultural Diversity and according to the cultural differences among societies for example we all know that in the Eastern Society especially in the art of where we used to know and we used to see that whenever we face a problem or a trouble we always go to families in order to take the support and when i speak about family we are speaking about the big family the extended family now due to this pandemic we are seeing that social distancing has. Put us in a situation that we need to be at a distance from all the people that we love because of to maintain our security and to keep people safe and this is a big change and a huge change in the daily life routine and sometimes and the Cultural Values and traditions thats why the only way to speak out is that so to speak about Mental Health and to seek the support and to seek the aid through the hotline and through special organizations and even on the things that are taking place on social media because social media and media is taking a big part or playing a major all an opening up to people and to make people up and in up and speaking up about their feelings and how they are feeling now and how to cope with a new life science. How to seek out help all over the world and specially in our countries yes we might be open in the coming or in the future in the very near future concerning Mental Health and seeking help. Psychological help and this is what now the the end you always are. Speaking about and the social policies and the governments are taking this in into consideration in order to support and help people to live better and to think method about their future and their fears and to get to read about all the storm us and the fear donna it looks to me like you were nodding to some of what may soon was saying about communities and families and social isolation we only have a couple of minutes left but go ahead if you want to respond to a mason was saying absolutely a great communication about Mental Health issues is the 1st port of call thats where we need to begin for too long thats been a stigma the idea that you might have anxiety or depression or panic attacks or obsessive thoughts and couldnt bring that anywhere unfortunately whats been pointed out is true in britain a lot of Mental Health services are disjointed theyve been underfunded for years they rely on a lot of voluntary organizations and charities families can at least reach each other over Technology Via polling or computer and now were allowed to see people our loved ones about 6 feet apart which is used it somewhat but we need to talk and we talked start with family and we start with extended family and then if we need to we need to take it to the professionals but i think right now all the Mental Health sectors in most countries are struggling to deal with the sudden rise in people needing to contact them forward vice and yes there are some wonderful resources online people need to tap into but the 1st place we need to do is to discuss the fact that we have a problem and that we need help thats where it has to begin and thats true of all of us now and were all suffering the same fate and in that way were united and lets hope we can just move forward with helping each other more. All right weve run out of time so were going to have to leave it there thanks so much to all our guests donna dawson kriti sharma and maysoon hamza and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a. J. Inside story for me mohammed im joined in the whole team here by for now. 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