How is the pandemic affecting mental health?

There is no doubt that necessity is the mother of invention, and the year 2020 was a vivid example of this. That year, the world found itself more compelled than ever to find creative solutions to meet the avalanche of challenges that emerged in fields, of which the medical field was the most important; From drug discovery to vaccine manufacturing to healthcare delivery, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted clinicians, researchers, business people and policy makers to fundamentally rethink every aspect of the system. health.

Although ‘Covid-19’ is primarily a physical illness, it took its toll on already strained mental health systems around the world, before the pandemic, mental health issues were among the most significant causes of disability in the world. world, and rates of mental illness diagnosis have been rising in all age groups for years without stopping, costing the global economy an estimated $ 1 trillion a year, and the impact of this has been devastating. for young people in particular. Today, suicide ranks second after car accidents among the causes of death among adolescents, and since the start of 2020 the situation has deteriorated further; The United States has seen a significant increase in the number of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression, which is likely to negatively affect children in the years to come.

Nonetheless, there is room for cautious optimism. When the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to tackle this growing problem, innovative thinkers rose to the challenge and distant fields of mental health provided solutions to a problem that once seemed insurmountable, and from there , work has started to design systems to make sure people are not only physically safe, but also mentally healthy.

Now we have systems that take advantage of techniques that simulate techniques used in the money world to predict mental health issues, and smart phones are being used to create digital models that simulate the development of disease, and then detect and track mental health problems, and major initiatives have already started in the area of ​​brain mapping and discovery. areas, such as the treatment of PTSD, depression and end-of-life anxiety. In addition, the venture capital community is now interested in a huge amount of mental health; Donors have invested more than $ 2.4 billion in developing digital tools for doctors and patients in the past year alone.

With all of this in mind, the World Economic Forum’s Future Council on Mental Health, which brings together a diverse group of experts in psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, public health, technology, informatics, business, public policy and advocacy, has undertaken to highlight The most innovative and disruptive developments A radical change in the field of mental health, and the jury examined more than 60 innovations to choose the best of them according to criteria related to the evaluation of the quality of the solutions provided by each innovation based on their modernity, their ability to address current gaps in the accessibility and delivery of mental health care, and its contribution to improving daily practices in this area, and the importance of the role that these solutions can play in achieving short term progress at the level of the company and in improving the psychological life of its members.

We hope from the bottom of our hearts that this list will be a driving force on the journey to building a better world for all who suffer from mental health issues, but we are also aware that there is a possibility – however small. – that we will not reach that future in which the issue of mental health is taken seriously and the stigma associated with it, that all societies still have the opportunity to advance these efforts through research and awareness raising , and here we can only borrow the words of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?? He wrote in The Independent: “Trying to predict the future is a pointless activity, but it’s a game we all have to get into because the world is changing so quickly, and we have to get a feel for what the future will be. be like because we will have to live there. Maybe next week. “

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the opinions expressed by the author or authors do not necessarily represent those of Scientific American