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People whose mental health has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic will be able to seek counseling for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, under new plans.
The UK government’s £ 500million ($ 690million) extension of NHS mental health services will allow 1.6 million people to receive help next year, according to ministers.
As part of the mental health recovery plan, particular emphasis will be placed on young adults, aged 18 to 25, including university students, as the chances and well-being of this generation have been destroyed by the crisis.
It will also specifically target frontline staff.
Services will also be extended to community groups helping those most affected by the pandemic, as well as debt counseling and awareness programs for loneliness and isolation.
Children with complex trauma will also be able to receive help under the new extension.
The Department of Health and Social Affairs (DHSC) said people with severe mental illness’ will also benefit from improved mental services in the community, backed by £ 58million for better, joint support between care primary and secondary ”. This included specialist mental health staff “integrated” into primary care.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the ‘Recovery Action Plan’ backed by £ 500million in funding will help ‘accelerate the expansion of mental health services’ and give people l help they need.
“As part of our response to this global pandemic, we not only want to address the public health threat of the coronavirus, but also ensure that our clinicians have the resources to deal with the impact on mental health of patients. people, ”he added.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Women struggling with more anxiety and loneliness than men
There have been several warnings from charities and other professional organizations about the state of mental health services and the impact of the pandemic. Last year, the Royal College of Psychiatrists said mental health services were “overflowing” with patients.
Research has already started to explore the prolonged impact of COVID-19’s social restrictions on our mental health. A UK study found that rates of mental distress in the general population rose from 18.8% to 27.3% between spring 2018 and spring 2020.
Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that women suffer more from anxiety and loneliness than men due to the pandemic.
The ONS said women were more likely to be put on leave and consistently spent more time on unpaid child care and unpaid housework throughout the pandemic.
At the start of the UK’s first lockdown in March 2020, women were spending 55% more time than men on unpaid childcare. However, in September and October 2020, women spent 99% more time in unpaid child care than men.
As a result, women reported higher anxiety, depression, and loneliness than men.
Women reported significantly higher anxiety than men at almost all times between March 20, 2020 and February 7, 2021, continuing a pre-pandemic trend.
The difference between the level of loneliness and depressive symptoms of men and women was greater as of June 2020, implying that changes in levels of depression and loneliness were preceded by changes in anxiety.
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The mental health ramifications of the pandemic have also prompted many to turn to online help.
According to data from the charity Rethink Mental Illness, the number of people turning to its website for mental illness advice has doubled in the six months since the first lockdown, to 1.69 million visits since March compared to 829,645 in the previous six months.
There was also an increase in the number of people seeking help due to suicidal thoughts, from 80,298 to 232,271, while the number of anxiety disorders rose from 73,456 to 210,931 and the number of self-harm. 16,920 to 56,418.
Nadine Dorries, Minister of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, urged those in need of support to “reach out.”
NHS England National Director of Mental Health Claire Murdoch said: ‘The pandemic has changed lives for everyone and has been very hard on mental health, which is why we have ensured that services of the NHS remain open while also treating tens of thousands of COVID patients. “
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