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Children and young people in particular suffer from the lockdown
Photo: Elva Etienne / Getty Images
Psychotherapists in Germany are calling for politicians to provide greater protection for people from the psychological stress caused by the corona pandemic.
"In addition to fears and depression, tension and aggression also increase, they often show themselves, often they are suppressed," said the President of the Chamber of Psychotherapists, Dietrich Munz, of the German Press Agency.
"But if the lockdown has to be extended and tightened anyway, it would be important that not only economic compensation flows."
Many children and young people in particular suffered from the lockdown.
For their development they should actually be able to share their everyday life with their peers.
Speech therapists have already reported increased disorders in language development.
“If kindergartens and schools cannot continue in attendance, more must be done to counteract the development deficits that have arisen.” Children from socially disadvantaged families are more severely affected.
"With minors, the first step is to identify the children who currently need support and especially after the pandemic has subsided," said Munz.
"After months of homeschooling, teachers often know exactly which students are drifting away." Additional care and support options should be created for these children by school psychologists.
“One idea would be for the federal states and municipalities to make it possible for students to work before they graduate.
You could, for example, sponsor a child. «Especially in warmer temperatures, more outdoor activities would be conceivable.
People ignore warning signs
According to Munz, the fact that the crisis is currently worsening due to the third wave is the result of ignorance of the increasing number of infections earlier in the year.
It was clear early on that the third wave would come.
»As humans, we have the tendency to ignore minor warning signals in order to be able to do the pleasurable.
That took revenge. "
The perspective of a vaccination offer for everyone and an end to the restrictions is central for mental resilience.
"We need an achievable goal," said Munz.
The third wave with the mutation B.1.1.7 and a sharper lockdown, however, slide like a big shadow in front of this perspective.
According to the Germany Barometer Depression published in March, almost three quarters (71 percent) of German citizens found the situation in the second lockdown to be depressing.
A permanent lockdown also promotes more aggressive behavior.
"Stress always brings with it an increase in the potential for aggression," said Munz.
Uncontrollable anxiety means stress.
Because fear brings about an inner activation for two typical reactions: fleeing or opposing.
It is hardly possible to become active - in the pandemic, people would be condemned to passivity.
Movement helps
"That is why activation through fear leads to aggressiveness in many - towards fellow human beings, in some also towards politics or even science, which supposedly got us all over the place," he said.
According to the »Depression Barometer«, 46 percent of German citizens consider fellow human beings to be more ruthless than in the lockdown at the beginning of 2020. Munz emphasized that exercise could reduce stress and aggression.
"In lockdown, people should do sports, walk briskly, walk, jog, ride a bike, or even fitness with digital offers."
Loneliness is currently a problem with singles in particular.
Many people who are acutely stressed have not yet developed any mental illness as a result.
Low-threshold offers could be helpful for them.
"But these are often not the case, because these are mostly group offers, contact mediation, meeting points, joint activities."
"For many couples and families, the tightness often creates stress," said Munz.
"Under normal circumstances, we oscillate between closeness and distance." There are many indications of more violence and sexual assault in families even in the first lockdown.
If everyone is always at home, there are few uncontrolled times for those affected, for example to call a women's shelter.
Mental illness will increase
"When the pandemic subsides, the mental illnesses are likely to increase noticeably," said Munz.
More patients are already asking therapists than a year ago.
You could usually make an appointment with a therapist via the doctors' appointment hotline without any problems.
But if a need for treatment is determined, around 40 percent of patients wait at least three to nine months for treatment to begin.
"We just don't have enough treatment places," said Munz.
In 2018, an official report found a gap of 2,400 positions, and there were 800 more.
In order to quickly expand the range of psychotherapy on offer, private practices should also be able to treat people with complaints at the expense of statutory health insurance until the end of the year.
In the long term, more practices would have to be approved.
kry / dpa
