Magdalena Birgersdotter lives with the diagnoses panic disorder, depression and emotionally unstable personality syndrome, also called borderline. Since the corona pandemic broke out and she chose to isolate herself, she has become much worse.

- I do not feel good about just being at home and not being able to do things so I have gotten worse this spring. I get a lot more panic disorder or anxiety overall. My problems with eating disorders have started again and so has my self-harming behavior. I withdraw from social contacts and stop hearing from myself, she says.

To map psychiatric symptoms 

At the Center for Psychiatric Research, a large study was recently initiated to map how the group suffering from mental illness is affected by the pandemic.

- This is a very special situation with a pandemic that affects us all. It can trigger anxiety, stress and fear in many people so one type of basic hypothesis is that it can aggravate psychiatric symptoms in people with mental illness. We need to map this and understand it better, so that healthcare can get that information and we can be well equipped for a second wave or other pandemics, says Karolina Sörman, who is one of the researchers in the group.

"You were afraid to go outside the door"

In connection with the spread of the coronavirus in Sweden, the number of visits to the psychiatric emergency rooms decreased. According to the National Board of Health and Welfare, visits decreased by 20 percent during the period mid-March to the end of April, compared with the previous year. This may have led to some feeling worse.

- We have received indicators from the patient associations that they were partly afraid to go outside the door but also that they did not want to disturb the care. It was thought that the care was full of the pandemic in general, says Lina Martinsson who is operations manager for Psychiatry southwest in the Stockholm Region.

According to Lina Martinsson, the pressure has returned to normal and an intense autumn is expected.

- We expect that there can be quite high pressure on psychiatry this autumn when people have stayed away and waited, and then everyone comes and needs help.