In a report from the Center for Epidemiology and Social Medicine (CES), researchers warn that the current pandemic can lead to increased mental illness in the population. Among the groups most at risk of suffering the most are intensive care patients, children and adolescents and health care professionals.
Johan Åhlén, psychologist and deputy head of the mental health unit at CES, fears that stress-related sick leave will increase among health care professionals.
- Healthcare personnel are a relatively small group, but if the care cannot fulfill the mission it has, it also affects the rest of the population, says Johan Åhlén.
More calls to the christmas phone
Calls to the region's Christian telephone for health care professionals have increased greatly in March and April this year, according to Charlotte Therup Svedenlöf, head of the crisis and disaster psychology unit in the Stockholm region.
- They hear about everything from ethical stress to feeling inadequate and starting to get hurt in the body. You have long workouts and high adrenaline rush. It is difficult to get the important time for recovery, says Charlotte Therup Svedenlöf.
Mental illness already before corona
Several of the groups now working under hard pressure had high sick leave in psychiatric diagnoses even before the crisis, according to a compilation from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency for the years 2018-2019. Specialist doctors and nurses are among the most severely affected professions.
- This is an indication that there are problems in these professions. It is likely that sick leave will increase in an already stressed group, says Ulrik Lidwall, an analyst at Försäkringskassan.