Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 27, 2020 (SKNIS): Two mental health professionals in St. Kitts and Nevis have said that persons with mental challenges are among the vulnerable groups who are at risk from the global spread of COVID-19 and have suggested measures that they can take to minimize mental health problems.
The risk isn’t directly related to exposure to the virus but rather the impact of fear, anxiety, loneliness and panic that can develop as a result of the global pandemic.
Michele de la Coudray Blake, Director of Counselling in the Ministry of Social Development, said that it was essential for persons with mental illness to maintain a healthy balance in their lives.
“If you look at what is happening with this COVID-19 situation, it is requiring us to use all of our facilities and faculties to be able to manage this and make sense of it,” she said, while appearing on this week’s edition of the radio programme Working for You.
Looking at the current circumstances from the viewpoint of a mentally ill person, Mrs. De la Coudray Blake said with the current overload from the media … “I have to find a way to balance all of this and make myself engage in self-care activities to balance it out; reach out to others so that I am not isolated. I have to do things above and beyond. “
She added that the persons might feel overwhelmed and may turn to drugs or alcohol to self medicate or may even practice an intense form of isolation because they are unable to cope with the realities of the COVID-19.
Dr. Cherrilyn Warde Crawford, Clinical Psychologist within the Ministry of Health, noted that the round-the-clock coverage on the Novel Coronavirus by the international media might serve as a trigger for the mentally ill.
Dr. Warde Crawford suggested that persons develop a regular structure to help them keep calm and maintain a sense of normalcy during this difficult time.