There is an urgent need for a Covid mental health response to plan and coordinate services for the general population. We know from the 2008 recession that there will be a big escalation in psychosocial related morbidity and mortality during and following Covid. The psychiatric services are not meeting basic needs as it is, and are in no position to cope with the huge escalation in mental illness that is approaching. Forward planning and mathematical and epidemiological modelling for psychiatric illness needs to mirror what is happening with the somatic side of Covid. Governments are managing the viral curve but they need to be ahead of the curve to prevent an even more devastating surge of mental and social illness.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
22 April 2020
Eugene Breen
Psychiatrist, Associate Clinical Professor
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin, University College Dublin
Rapid Response:
Re: Matt Morgan: Hold onto your red thread
Dear Editor
There is an urgent need for a Covid mental health response to plan and coordinate services for the general population. We know from the 2008 recession that there will be a big escalation in psychosocial related morbidity and mortality during and following Covid. The psychiatric services are not meeting basic needs as it is, and are in no position to cope with the huge escalation in mental illness that is approaching. Forward planning and mathematical and epidemiological modelling for psychiatric illness needs to mirror what is happening with the somatic side of Covid. Governments are managing the viral curve but they need to be ahead of the curve to prevent an even more devastating surge of mental and social illness.
Competing interests: No competing interests