20/06/2020
COVID-19 has instilled a level of fear and anxiety in us all. As it has isolated us physically, we have felt isolated mentally. We have all felt feelings of depression as we missed friends, family and loved ones.
Yet for many of us, these feelings are just a small glimpse into what it is like to be living with anxiety, depression or other mental health challenges. For many, these issues were a daily struggle before COVID-19 and they will be afterwards--perhaps made worse by the pandemic.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s consistent plea has been for nations’ coronavirus responses to be based on empathy. “Compassion is a medicine,” he said in March. That compassion and solidarity applies just as much to our own approaches to mental health. Solidarity with those enduring mental health challenges, and a demand that we are all entitled to mental health services, must be a rallying cry for us all.