Mental disorders are one of the main causes of illness in Germany. Experts believe that due to the coornavirus pandemic, the number of mental illnesses will increase dramatically. The federal government plans to introduce preventive and rehabilitative measures to support the country’s population.
The federal government is concerned about the mental health of the nation. Especially the working part of the population, which is exposed to the greatest stress at the time of the crisis. This was stated by the Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil. He suggests that the coronavirus pandemic will affect the mental health of many people in one way or another. “The coronavirus will have many psychosocial consequences.” The crisis puts pressure on the psyche of people, which may require long-term, large-scale rehabilitation.
Hyle believes that Family Affairs Minister Francisca Giffay and Health Minister Jens Spahn should be more closely involved in the development of preventive and rehabilitative measures. “We need a global strategy,” says Heil. In tackling the problems affecting the mental health of a country’s inhabitants, policy decisions regarding the labor market, occupational safety and health and family policies must be considered comprehensively.
The number of days that the working population of the country is on sick leave for health reasons has been increasing over the years. In the period from 2008 to 2016 alone, the number of days in which company employees did not go to their enterprises increased by more than 60 percent. The number of days spent on sick leave due to mental disorders has increased especially sharply – by almost 125 percent. For diseases of the musculoskeletal system – by far the most common reason why people in Germany were unable to go to work – the increase was only 62 percent.
Psychological problems can have different causes, Heil continues. These include stress, trauma, genetic predisposition, and physical illness suffered in early childhood. “As multi-layered the picture of diagnoses is, so the strategy of assistance should be so extensive”. The components of the assistance will be pension insurance, which provides rehabilitation services, accident insurance and mutual aid organizations. First of all, it is extremely important to take the topic of mental illness “out of the zone of social taboo,” the minister said.
During the coronavirus crisis, people need to be confident that they will receive support. In particular, if they have problems after the end of the acute phase of the disease, – says the President of the German Pension Fund Gundula Rossbach. This also applies to psychological consequences. “The list of services we provide includes rehabilitation after coronavirus.”
In 2019, pension insurance provided about 1.05 million medical rehabilitation services, in 2000 – only 836 thousand. Experts suggest that the number of patients in need of rehabilitation will skyrocket.
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