Maintaining Sound Mind

The pandemic that has lasted almost two years has disrupted all aspects of life, mind and body. It is a struggle to deal with them, including maintaining mental health.

Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo

A group of cyclists cross the Semanggi Bridge, Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jakarta, June 22, 2021. Cycling together can reduce stress due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a medical phenomenon. The situation has changed the normal order of life and affected individuals and communities. When people are forced to self-isolate, keep distance, stop meeting socially at schools, houses of worship, offices, and even malls and tourist spots, what happens is disruption. Anxiety, stress, stigmas and xenophobia appear.

Therefore, to mark World Mental Health Day on 10 Oct, the World Health Organization (WHO) has chosen the theme “Mental health care for all: let’s make it a reality”, specifically highlighting the pandemic and the major impact it has had on people’s mental health.

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The pressure on mental wellbeing has grown ever heavier, as many people have lost their jobs as well as their loved ones. The Health Ministry recorded that 24 million informal workers lost their source of income.

According to the WHO, one in four people experience mental disorders every year. This may affect our family members, close friends, colleagues and even ourselves. In Indonesia, the condition is not very different. In the first year of the pandemic, the Health Ministry recorded 277,000 cases of mental disorder until June 2020, a rapid increase compared to 197,000 cases in 2019.

KOMPAS/MACHRADIN WAHYUDI RITONGA

Haidar (27) and Fakhri (26) play chess at a coffee shop in Bandung, West Java, March 17, 2021. Stress and depression can happen to anyone. Meeting with friends and sharing stories is considered to reduce stress.

Of the various kinds of mental disorders, depression had the highest number of cases in Indonesia. Results of the ministry’s Basic Health Research 2018 indicated that depression was prevalent from adolescence to early adulthood (15-24 years) at 6.2 percent, with the prevalence increasing with age.

At a virtual press conference last week, the ministry’s director of prevention and control of mental disorders and drug abuse, Celestinus Eigya Munthe, said the pandemic had increased the prevalence of depression to 9 percent. As such, mental health care had become important.

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> Mental Health for All: Between Hope and Reality

> Mental Health Shattered by the Pandemic

Sadly, Indonesia’s health facilities and infrastructure are not yet adequate. Not all provinces have mental healthcare facilities. Of the approximately 10,000 community health centers (Puskesmas) in the country, only 6,000 provide mental health services.

The same is true of health human resources. Indonesia has only 1,053 psychiatrists, meaning that one psychiatrist serves around 250,000 people. It is indeed a big challenge to provide care for 20 percent of the population vulnerable to mental disorders.

In the short term, community support considerably helps overcome this mental healthcare issue, ranging from group fitness programs to book clubs and to sharing personal experiences. They certainly remain within the bounds of the health protocols. For the long term, however, health human resources, facilities and infrastructure must be restructured under a well-designed, appropriate and targeted program.

Soundness of mind supports the health of the nation. This is what we actually need to deal with present-day events.

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.