Spain's virus surge hits mental health of front-line workers
by Renata Brito
The unrelenting increase in COVID-19 infections in Spain following the holiday season is again straining hospitals, threatening the mental health of doctors and nurses who have been at the forefront of the pandemic for nearly a year.
In Barcelona's Hospital del Mar, the critical care capacity has more than doubled and is nearly full, with 80% of ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients.
"There are young people of 20-something-years-old and older people of 80-years-old, all the age groups," said Dr. Joan Ramon Masclans, who heads the ICU. "This is very difficult, and it is one patient after another."
Even though authorities allowed gatherings of up to 10 people for Christmas and New Year celebrations, Masclans chose not to join his family and spent the holidays at home with his partner.
"We did it to preserve our health and the health of others. And when you see that this isn't being done (by others) it causes significant anger, added to the fatigue," he said.
A study released this month by Hospital del Mar looking at the impact of the spring's COVID-19 surge on more than 9,000 health workers across Spain found that at least 28% suffered major depression. That is six times higher than the rate in the general population before the pandemic, said Dr. Jordi Alonso, one of the chief researchers.
In addition, the study found that nearly half of participants had a high risk of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks or substance- and alcohol-abuse problems.
Spanish health care workers are far from the only ones to have suffered psychologically from the pandemic. In China, the levels of mental disorders among doctors and nurses were even higher, with 50% reporting depression, 45% reporting anxiety and 34% reporting insomnia, according to the World Health Organization.
In the U.K., ruled out the possibility of a new lockdown, relying instead on less drastic restrictions that aren't as damaging to the economy but take longer to decrease the rate of infections.
Alonso fears the latest surge of virus patients could be as detrimental to the mental health of medical staff as the shock of the pandemic's first months.
"If we want to be cared for adequately, we also need to take care of the health care workers, who have suffered and are still suffering," he said.
Let us know if there is a problem with our content
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience
We keep our content available to everyone.
Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process
and policies.
Editors
have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Medical Xpress is a web-based medical and health news service that is part of the renowned Science X network.
Based on the years of experience as a Phys.org medical research channel, started in April 2011, Medical Xpress became a separate website.
Medical Xpress is a part of Science X network.
With global reach of over 5 million monthly readers and featuring dedicated websites for hard sciences, technology, smedical research and health news,
the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people.