“We had not yet fully emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic that we have fallen into this climate of war, a climate where we talk about nuclear power, and there is widespread concern that has done nothing but keep the levels of malaise high. and discomfort. It must be considered that we have reached the pandemic with a trend of increasing both disorders and discomfort and psychological malaise that had been going on for many years “. The advent of Sars-CoV-2 and all that has arisen from the epidemiological emergency “greatly amplified this situation. This uncertainty and this discomfort linked to the pandemic in the strict sense also had a” wearying “duration, over 2 years “. It is a delicate phase from a psychological point of view that the population is going through today, explains David Lazzari, president of the National Council of the Order of Psychologists (Cnop) to Adnkronos Salute.
What is worrying is the combination of several factors, of course. Result: “We have recently redone the stressometer”, a tool used to monitor the psychological situation that Italians are experiencing, “and reported that over 30% of citizens declared a very high level of stress, between 80 and 100. They are the the same scores that were seen in the pandemic – highlights Lazzari – So this is the situation “.
Pandemic, climate of war, economic crisis keep “the levels of malaise and unease high – he observes – And it is clear that then this malaise, protracted over time, ends up manifesting itself in even more evident forms”, with problems that affect mental health .
“Do-it-yourself psychotropic drugs” – The increase in the consumption of psychotropic drugs, also reported by various studies, for Lazzari “responds to the fact that many people have forms of malaise. And if the malaise increases, so does the use” of these products. But in reality, two somewhat opposite phenomena are worrying: “On the one hand there are many people who have these forms of malaise and refuse to take drugs, because they do not want to create addictive situations. On the other hand, many people actually they take these drugs even outside the prescriptions, because they have no other ways to calm the symptoms, even if these drugs only work on the symptoms and therefore most of the time they are not resolutive and they are not especially if these drugs are used do-it-yourself use “.
“In reality – points out the expert – this do-it-yourself use” of psychotropic drugs “is very widespread, much more than what results from the statistics”. And if the psychological distress of the population increases, in the wake of the pandemic, the climate of war and the economic crisis, “this phenomenon of consumption of drugs and other products, supplements and so on also increases. they are more appropriate answers “, if full access to psychological services is not achieved,” people try to use what is within their reach.
“Now school and family psychology” – The psychologist bonus, a measure for which the decree has just been signed, “is a signal that is going in the right direction, a signal of recognition of the problem”. But it is, in fact, a first step. Because, in the face of a picture of growing unease, “we are in a situation in which a ‘public network’ of psychology does not yet exist. There is a bonus, there have been measures that Parliament has taken to strengthen a little bit of public structures, however, what is needed now is to preside over two points: schools and primary care “. Two ‘strategic places’ where to intercept the population’s request for help. “I renew my appeal on this”, says Lazzari.
“We need systemic laws – he affirms – and to enhance” the possibility of supervising “the school on the one hand; and primary care, family doctors and pediatricians, on the other”. According to the expert, these two fronts are in fact “the first to receive this malaise and discomfort”. This is where the first requests for help can pass. “And so that’s why we would like Parliament to approve these two laws, one for school psychology and the other” for what could be called ‘family psychology’, the “primary care psychologist. This is the appeal. that we address to politics and Parliament – insists Lazzari – because they are the two frontier situations that intercept this type of situations of psychological malaise and that do not currently have the tools to give answers “.
The request for help “is very many – Lazzari notes – but there are also many people who say: I would like to get help, but I don’t have the possibilities. We are always faced with this type of problem. Many would need, but then they are worried that they do not have resources”.
“There is also the prospect of widespread economic difficulties”, which are worsening in this difficult period, amid rises and crises. “In this case, therefore, there is a double fragility – specifies the president of Cnop – which will now receive first aid from the psychologist bonus, but the issue remains, despite the important signal that has been given”.
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