Saint Lucia has experienced an increase in mental health issues since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Island’s Ministry of Heath, Wellness and Elderly Affairs.
Mental Health Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Alicia St. Juste confirmed the increase.
“We experienced the loss of our social spaces, our livelihoods, our incomes, and the loss of friends and family members. There has been much uncertainty and you find these things bring on mental health issues,” St Juste explained.
The Ministry of Health highlighted the importance of mental health during a Mental Health Awareness Motorcade.
The activity was held for World Mental Health Day on October 10, under the theme: ‘Ending Stigma and Discrimination Against Mental Illness.’
The motorcade took health officials from Castries to Micoud as they shared information about mental health, mental illnesses, and how people can take care of themselves,
The day’s activities included free mental status examinations, psychotherapy, blood pressure, and diabetes checks.
Community Mental Health Nurse for Region Eight, Maria Charles Monrose said physical and mental health go hand in hand.
And regarding mental health stigma, Monrose said education is the solution when stigma and discrimination prevent people from seeking treatment for mental illness.
“If we want to stop stigma, we have to start it with education,” she explained.
In addition, Monrose noted that without sound mental health, the body would not function properly.
And she advised the public to seek treatment and care whenever necessary.
It’s a shame..you don’t see much comments here as fast as the others.
Well to some people Covid is a hoax and this situation isn’t real either. People rather take their chances with Covid which affects the oxygen levels in your body and in turn your brain. The amount of people who battled with Covid must have some level of brain damage. Why do you think China is still locked down.
It is refreshing that the St. Lucian medical establishment & governmental agencies are finally opening up to the general public, regarding their state of mental degradation, which caused them to fall in line (or were bribed) to force the vaccine regime on the sheeple of St. Lucia, solely to enrich the pharmaceutical manufacturers!
Hypocrites, you’ll should have stopped and ended the stigma and discrimination against the unvaccinated, against those who believed in natural immunity, those who stood for freedom of choice, freedom of conscience, those who dosnt trust the science that was backed by big money, big pharma, WHO, and all the professional buffoons that condescendingly dictated to us what we should put in our bodies. What you’ll expected after shutting down an economy, putting protocols that that killed people, you’ll are criminals. Fire and Brimstone will overtake you’ll.
Most Lucians are seriously unaware and do not understand the scope of mental health issues which currently exist in the world. They would rather resort to witchcraft (by stating they did something to him or her) rather then get their family member proper medical diagnosis and medical help. In addition some medical practitioners in St. Lucia do not prescribe proper dosage(s) or conduct in-depth evaluations when prescribing narcotics for varied mental health patients. For example someone suffering from severe anxiety is not the same as one who is dealing with schizophrenia and therefore should not be medicated in the same manner.
When you victimize an individual with mental illness you push him or her further into an extreme depressive state. There are over 200 types of varied mental illnesses and as such mental issues should be assessed and addressed for exactly what it is an illness. I once heard a St. Lucian woman say “they did something to my son (as in obeah) because he was gay.”—really????? Some of you Lucians need to read and learn…seriously.
Follow the science:
Highlights *Across 31 systematically identified national seroprevalence studies in the pre-vaccination era, the median infection fatality rate of COVID-19 was estimated to be 0.035% for people aged 0-59 years people and 0.095% for those aged 0-69 years.
*The median IFR was 0.0003% at 0-19 years, 0.003% at 20-29 years, 0.011% at 30-39 years, 0.035% at 40-49 years, 0.129% at 50-59 years, and 0.501% at 60-69 years.
*At a global level, pre-vaccination IFR may have been as low as 0.03% and 0.07% for 0-59 and 0-69 year old people, respectively.
*These IFR estimates in non-elderly populations are lower than previous calculations had suggested.
Covid is no different than any other flu. They ramped up the fear level to 1000 to manipulate the branch covidians (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5A0fhme7ys). Covid essentially killed those at the end of the natural life like regular flu. Everyone who died “from Covid” had an average of 4 other serious medical conditions that normally kill people. Please educate yourself and stop being ignorant.
The mental health issues emerged as a result of government actions and nothing to do with covid. Who would’ve thought locking people in their homes, preventing kids from going to school, closing gyms and beaches and every other social activity would lead to mental health issues in a social animal? Again educate yourself.
This is NOT about Covid but about mental health which is a HUGE issue here. Stick to the point. Anyway… Education on mental health should also extend to the general public ie those individuals not personally affected by mental illness but who judge and scorn those who have the misfortune of suffering one (or more) forms of mental illness. Discrimination causes more distress to the person affected and their families.
STOP FEEDING THE PEOPLE
WHITE RUM ON VICTORIA
STREET.
@Jay YES YES YES! Well said thank you
The owner of that place turn that area to a disgusting slum. We know he is just the front man with the pitbull the real owner.