Reinforcing the second line of defense in COVID-19 pandemic response

By Dennis Archambault

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have shared perspectives of our Psychiatry residents with our Washington Congressional delegation, urging them to consider the unique contribution psychiatrists and other mental health providers offer in the care of society — people who are ill, their families, and communities at large. While the medical front line in hospitals and community health centers must be supplied and otherwise supported, the psychological fallout of this disease is also taxing the ability of society to keep on keeping on.

Andrew Solomon, a contributor to the New York Times, wrote an excellent article on this topic (www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-depression-anxiety.html) in which he referenced a “secondary crisis” occurring in the pandemic: “an escalation  in both short-term and long-erm clinical mental illness that may endure for decades after the pandemic recedes.”

Solomon cites a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation that found nearly half of the respondents said their mental health was being harmed by the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a lot of people. In doing so, he raises our awareness of how important “integrated” physical and mental health is. “The unequal treatment of the two kinds of health — physical over mental — is consonant with society’s disregard for psychological stability.” Solomon says that we should recognize that “depression generated by fear, loneliness or grief” is affecting a large segment of the population and needs attention to create the social fabric that is able to endure multiple waves of this disease.

It is timely that May is when Americans commemorate Mental Health Month. At this juncture in the social endurance test of surviving COVID-19, it’s important to attend to the psychosocial stability of our community, which has been so devastated by this disease. As many have said, this disease is not going away. We need to contain it and maintain our wellness at the same time.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.