The Right to Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Neringa Grigutytė,Ugnė Grigaitė,Karilė Levickaitė

doi:10.15388/psichol.2021.39

Neringa Grigutytė, Ugnė Grigaitė + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15388/psichol.2021.39

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Abstract

The relationship between mental health and human rights is integral and interdependent. There are clinical, social and economic reasons, as well as moral and legal obligations to advance mental health care as fundamental to human rights. Significant considerations for this matter are especially crucial when addressing the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. The aim of this research study was to analyse the responses to the ongoing pandemic, concerning the human rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities and the right to the mental health of the general population, in Lithuania. Methods included online surveys, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. This article presents the results as a complex picture containing lived experiences of mental health difficulties of the general population, barriers to accessing the needed support and services, as well as analysis of violations of human rights. It also highlights the need for more research on the long-term consequences of the pandemic and lockdowns on the mental health of the population; also, on how human rights of persons with mental health conditions, and especially those with psychosocial disabilities, can be better ensured and protected in Lithuania.

Highlights

Population’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic 66.49% of 939 respondents experienced some kind of mental health difficulties during the pandemic period, up until the second lockdown in Lithuania
Most commonly respondents experienced anxiety (47.5%), fear (15.5%), loneliness (15.5%), sleep problems (9.5%), sadness (7.8%), apathy (7.2%), anger (6.7%), panic attacks (5.4%), burnout (5.3%), depression (4.6%), and suicidal ideation (9.6%). 2.9% of respondents indicated that their previous mental health difficulties had deepened during the pandemic
Mental health problems were more prevalent among three populations, as follows: women, people living in large cities, and people living alone

Summary

Introduction

The Right to Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic kokie yra ilgalaikiai pandemijos ir karantinų padariniai žmonių psichikos sveikatai, taip pat tyrimų, analizuojančių, kaip Lietuvoje būtų galima geriau užtikrinti ir apsaugoti psichikos sveikatos sunkumų turinčiųjų, ypač asmenų su psichosocialine negalia, žmogaus teises. There are clinical, social and economic reasons, as well as moral and legal obligations, to advance mental health care as fundamental to human rights (United Nations, 2018). The right to health is an inclusive right, extending to timely and appropriate health care, and to the underlying determinants of health. It is stipulated so in Article 12 of the UN Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (United Nations, 1996). Psychiatric research shows that those with previously diagnosed mental health conditions are at a greater risk of experiencing an exacerbation of symptoms during the pandemic (Liu et al, 2020)

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