INEM's Mobile Emergency Psychological Intervention Units have recorded an increase in cases involving young people, a situation that those responsible say reinforces concerns about the negative effects of the pandemic.
“In fact, what we are seeing is a consolidation of the signs of concern we had last year,” Sónia Cunha, director of the Psychological Support and Crisis Intervention Center (CAPIC), a service of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) that provides psychological support for telephone calls received at the Urgent Patient Guidance Centers (CODU), told Lusa.
This service operates 24 hours a day and, whenever necessary, sends teams to the locations through UMIPE, which between January and September of this year registered 918 interventions, covering 2.391 people.
More than 360 situations concern critical incidents (cases with traumatic potential, such as witnessing an accident at work) and 212 concern suicidal behavior, 54 more than in the same period last year.
Speaking to Lusa, Sónia Cunha highlighted the particular concern for the fringes of the population – the youngest and the oldest – but, above all, those aged between 11 and 16, recalling the importance of strengthening the involvement of the school community and mental health support in primary health care.
The person in charge insisted on the need to invest in prevention and recalled that UMIPEs function as “a gateway for requests for help in situations that have already escalated”.
“We are the end of the line and the ideal is that it doesn’t get here”, he acknowledged, calling attention to the need to not only talk about mental health, but to implement urgent measures to prevent mental illness on the ground.
It is equally important not to undervalue the symptoms and signs of needing help, he warned, stressing: “There is still a lot of resistance to accepting mental health as something valuable”.
He acknowledged that there is still stigma surrounding this issue and insisted: “We need to continue working to demystify mental health as something minor or as something of human fragility.”
INEM data indicate that in the first nine months of the year, CAPIC/CODU registered 5.444 interventions/calls (less than last year), but departures from UMIPE increased, rising from 716 to 918 in the same period.
Suicidal behavior is the most relevant in contacts to CAPIC/CODU (2.219 from January to September this year), followed by emotional or behavioral changes (1.916).
Sónia Cunha also highlighted the reinforcement of UMIPE psychologists, which now have four complete teams, with a total of 31 psychologists.
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