The mental health crisis: the challenges facing the Healthcare sector as the number of mental health disorders rises

The global Healthcare LLYC team is launching a new publication focused on mental health within its What’s Up Health platform. An issue that has become a global public health problem, as more than 450 million people worldwide suffer from some form of mental disorder costing the global economy an estimated $2.5 trillion a year.

In this new publication, Giuliana Gregori, Director of Health at LLYC Brazil, reflects on the deterioration of the pandemic in the mental health of the global population. She also analyzes the important role that communication can play in this field: on the one hand, by promoting public awareness that helps to destigmatize mental disorders and create a favorable environment for debate, and on the other, by helping to give visibility to the actions of mental health services and facilitating the feasibility of effective public policies.

But there is another crucial factor affecting the population’s mental health that has grown alarmingly in recent years: polarization. As we mentioned in our study ‘The Hidden Drug’, this has become the new hidden drug we consume without realizing it. Patricia Fernández Martín, a clinical psychologist at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, takes LLYC’s study as a starting point and reflects on this phenomenon, its emotional and social repercussions, and what we can do to combat it.

One of the consequences of the phenomenon of polarization is misinformation. The more polarized people are, the more willing they are to spread disinformation. In a health crisis, such as the one that occurred with COVID-19, this can lead to a national situation of uncertainty and chaos. Brazil was a case in point. Clara Ramirez Barat, director of the Warren Education Policy Program at the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, and Alejandro Dos Santos Magalhães, architect, partner, and co-founder of Equipe B Arquitetura, reflect on the management of the pandemic in this country and the power of disinformation in a health crisis. 

Discover all the full articles in the new publication of the What’s Up Health platform!