The pandemic has had a profound and negative effect on people’s mental health in Poland over the last year, with data showing an increase in days off work due to mental health and a rise in prescriptions for anti-depressants, reports the Rzeczpospolita daily.
Meanwhile, 47% of Poles say they are concerned about their mental health getting worse during the second wave of the pandemic, according to a poll.
Polish workers took a combined total of 14.9 million days of sick leave due to mental and behaviour disorders between January and September, which was almost 50% more than in the same period last year, according to data from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), a state body.
The worst situation came during the second quarter of 2020, when Poland went into lockdown. At that time there was a year-on-year increase in mental health sick days of 70%.
There are concerns among experts that the current second wave – which is not included in the data – may have a similar impact on Poles’ mental health, reports Rzeczpospolita.
“The second, autumn wave of the pandemic may hit our already weakened mental resilience even harder,” Małgorzata Czernecka, a psychologist, told the newspaper.
The number of prescriptions for anti-depressants also rose by a million in the first ten months of this year, to 20.7 million, according to research company Iqvia. That does, however, continue a trend of rising numbers over recent years.
Polling data also notes widespread mental health issues among Poles amid the pandemic. Among 1,500 employees at 200 businesses surveyed by SW Research, three out of every four reported that they had started suffering from a new problem since the pandemic began
One in three admitted having feelings of fear and anxiety, 26% said they had experienced sleep disturbances,13% reported feelings of depression, and 7% had abused alcohol.
“The pandemic, especially in the first few months, has been a difficult time for all of us”, said Przemysław Lewicki, health and safety manager at DHL Supply Chain, quoted in the report. “Working from home, which for some meant reduced commuting time, for many also led to almost total social exclusion”.
Another survey, published this month by UCE Research and Syno Poland, found that 52% of women and 41% of men expressed concern that their mental health would worsen during the second wave, reports Polsat News
“The feeling of insecurity seems to be a natural consequence of the pandemic and changes that are taking place in our surroundings”, said Damian Markowski from Therapify, a mental health app that commissioned the research.
As well as social exclusion, another factor in the increase of mental health issues in recent months may be economic uncertainty, notes Rzeczpospolita.
According to the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) – which is produced by the European Commission – Poland’s economic confidence fell by 9.5 points, the largest drop in Europe. Poland is now recording 70.1 points, one of the lowest levels in the EU.
“While we coped well with the first wave of the pandemic, the situation is becoming more and more severe, as there is no prospect of when it will end,” Monika Fedorczuk, a labour market expert from the Lewiatan Confederation, told Rzeczpospolita.
“We are increasingly tired of protracted isolation and economic uncertainty. In many industries, the second wave of the pandemic has also intensified concerns about maintaining jobs and earnings,” she continued.
Main image credit: Piotr Skornicki / Agencja Gazeta
Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.
