Berlin (AFP)
After more than 15 years battling her depression, Lena Ulrich thought she had found a balance.
This was without counting the Covid-19 epidemic and the impact of its endless restrictions on the social life of this German thirty-something.
While "I had structured and organized my life in such a way that it worked quite well for me (...) everything collapsed relatively quickly ... and I found myself in a fairly strong and prolonged depressive episode" , explains this 37-year-old resident of Cologne.
The young woman is one of the many people who, suffering from psychiatric disorders before the health crisis, have seen their problems worsen since the appearance of the new coronavirus.
In Germany, as elsewhere, their medical follow-up has been strongly affected by the closure imposed on many support structures under the anti-Covid measures, first in March and then again since December with the second epidemic wave that is struggling to contain the country.
Even if since the spring several establishments have offered their services online or via smartphone applications, the results are not as convincing for this type of care where direct exchanges remain essential.
- Too much isolation -
According to the German Foundation for Depression Victims (DDH), people suffering from this disease experienced the restrictive measures of the spring with a stress more than twice the average of the population.
More than half of them also saw their access to treatment restricted, further assessed the foundation.
Outpatient psychiatric clinics, counseling centers and suicide prevention services have all seen an increase in requests for help this year, even remotely, according to Dietrich Munz, head of the German Chamber of Psychotherapists.
"There is now a whole series of studies showing that mental stress caused by restrictive measures can also lead to mental illness," he told AFP.
Georg Kepkowski, 58, remembers his unhappiness in spring: it is as if "the foundations which helped me to remain stable have collapsed".
"Social contact with my friends and family was very limited. I felt isolated and because of that, I had depression," he explains.
No wonder, according to Mr. Munz for whom social isolation can easily lead to deterioration of psychological health: "Humans are social beings. This means that we seek and need interpersonal exchanges, be it small conversations at work or confidences with his friends ".
The German government has extended the partial reconfinement of the country until the end of January, urging the population to only go out in cases of extreme necessity, urging them in particular to give up Sunday mountain excursions this winter.
- ... or promiscuity -
Unlike too much solitude, staying confined for days in the same space with the same people, due to teleworking and reduced outings, can also lead to an increase in anxiety.
"Too much proximity can also cause psychological stress," says Munz, adding that "reducing your exchanges exclusively with the family is difficult if there are too few opportunities to isolate yourself".
Praised for its handling of the first wave of the virus, Germany has been hit hard by the second, with a number of new daily cases about five times the spring peak and a record number of daily deaths, which has crossed several times the threshold of a thousand people.
In a recent survey by the health insurance company Pronova BKK, 75% of 154 psychiatrists and psychotherapists surveyed expect cases of mental illness to increase over the next 12 months.
© 2021 AFP