Digital Health Brazil warns about the important and growing role of telepsychiatry and telepsychology in assisting people suffering from some type of mental illness or disorder
Never in the history of humanity has mental health been as important as it is today. Cases of people suffering from depression, anxiety, burnout, stress, and other psychiatric illnesses have exploded all over the world.
Increasingly challenging and accelerated changes require new attitudes, new skills, new understandings and new behaviors. The numbers of people going through this situation are frightening. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in the first year of the pandemic alone, the prevalence of depression and anxiety increased by 27.61% and 25.61%, respectively, worldwide, with the highest incidence among young people and women. So much so that, dismayed by this scenario, the WHO classified mental health services as essential during the pandemic. This was a warning of the potential problems that could arise due to the impediment of access, such as the increase in suicidal behavior.
Not only the pandemic experienced in the last three years, but also the political and economic crises that have plagued the world and, in particular, the country, have caused substantial impacts on the mental health of Brazilians. report of 2018 by the World Health Organization (WHO), entitled “The Burden of Mental Disorders in the Region of the Americas, 2018”, on the burden of mental disorders in the Americas, pointed to Brazil as having the highest prevalence of anxiety disorders, with 7.5% of the population. In relation to depression, this percentage is 9.3%.
To Caio Soares, president of Digital Health Brazil, These numbers have certainly grown exponentially during the pandemic and this demand for care will continue, and telehealth is the most efficient way to meet it, because it will remain high. According to him, more than a form of access, this care model can change the way people manage their health individually, being, especially, a gateway to primary and preventive care. It is an efficient channel for support, diagnosis and treatment of problems related to mental health and its adoption grew exponentially during the pandemic, with health insurance companies, companies and the population realizing how valuable this resource can be.
“We are experiencing a mental health pandemic. I believe that even if all the problems we face ended today, we would have another 15 years of monitoring these millions of patients with post-traumatic stress. Technology can, indeed, bring people closer together and help care for them,” he emphasizes.
The executive adds that the impact is even greater on the SUS (Unified Health System), which accounts for 71.51% of the Brazilian population, according to the National Health Survey (2020) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). Hence the importance of the publication of Law No. 14,510/2022, at the end of last year, which authorized and regulated the practice of telehealth in Brazil, both in the public and private systems. “As I said, mental health illnesses are a public health problem in Brazil, and now we have the tool that the SUS needs for this movement to expand access and end this true pandemic. We are experiencing an excellent moment for digital health in the country, and practical results should emerge quickly. In fact, they cannot take long, because the population needs it, especially telepsychology and telepsychiatry,” he concludes.
