"People are the best vaccine for mental health," he said. Mercedes NavíoThe coordinator of the Regional Office for Mental Health of the Community of Madrid, in the conclusions of the Observatory PROA about 'Mental Health Challenges'.The event was held last Thursday evening. "People are the ones who will save people, because our vaccine in mental health is authentic and genuine links," he concluded. The pandemic and the post-pandemic socio-economic context have led to an upsurge in mental health problems, mainly because "COVID-19 has taken away the two illusions with which we left home every day: invulnerability and the illusion of control. We were suddenly aware that we had no ground under our feet, and so we need to rebuild a sense of purpose," he concluded.
The Observatory, conducted by PROA Comunicación, featured a panel of speakers including the Global Head of Employee Relations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, José Antonio GonzálezThe treasurer and head of Social Strategy and Sustainability of the General Council of Pharmaceutical Associations, Ana López-CaseroThe General Treasurer and Member for Mental Health of the General Council of Nurses, María del Mar García MartínD. and Professor of Psychiatry, Medical Psychology and Psychopathology at the Complutense University of Madrid, María López-Iborled by Dolors Marcodirector of the PROA's Health, Pharma and Medical Technology Area.
José Antonio González, highlighted the need for companies to incorporate greater flexibility in their relationship with professionals, bearing in mind that they are "people" and each one has different peculiarities: "a single person has nothing to do with a pregnant woman, or a father with small children, or an older professional with a lot of experience. We have to be able to adapt the working model to each of these circumstances".
Regarding the relationship between young people and companies, the global director of labour relations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise said that it is not exactly "lack of commitment, but that they put a point of mental health to the purpose, for example, my daughter is looking for a career now and, to decide, she does not consult the economic balance of the next ten years, but thinks about what she likes to do. When I tell her I'm going to do something, the first thing she asks me is if I feel like doing it. This spirit millennial is more periodically connected to themselves than to a purpose and I think there is a healthy part to it. So, for me leadership is feedback"he concludes. Another action that José Antonio González highlighted is the need to educate people in two skills that are rare: empathy and assertiveness. "That is to say, if you are not trained to set limits, it is very likely that you will reach your 'click' point because you do not know how to say 'no'. That's what assertiveness teaches: to do in a polite way, something that has to be encouraged from the company".
Psychiatrist María López-Ibor explained that Spain is one of the countries where most anxiolytics are consumed, and this is because "we are in a society that avoids suffering. We need to feel immediate relief in the face of any disturbance and we tend to medicalise it because we want a quick solution". López-Ibor pointed out that, just after the pandemic, the mental health strategy dating from 2007 has been updated. "This shows the great psychological impact that COVID-19 has had on our lives.", he notes.
For her part, María del Mar García, Mental Health spokesperson for the General Nursing Council, highlighted her more than 30 years of experience as a Mental Health nurse, "the hospital speciality that nobody wanted, in which nobody invested. With the pandemic that mantle has been removed and it has been observed that there is a certain acceptance with regard to our mental health, it is a very good thing because it is already being talked about, it is no longer a taboo subject. Also, once you put the spotlight on it and normalise it, you can come up with ideas, solutions and improvements".
Ana López-Casero of the General Council of Pharmaceutical Associations, pointed out that the estimated cost of mental health in Spain is 4.2% of GDP, but actual spending only covers 10% of that cost. In sum, only 60% of care centres provide mental health services, so there is "...a lack of information on the cost of mental health care in Spain".a serious lack of resources However, it is important to emphasise how important it is that this issue has leapt onto the political agendas of our country's major decision-makers.
He also emphasised that "we need to promote collaborative models between the different levels of care - primary and specialised - but also between health and non-health professionals: municipalities, schools, employers, companies. Working in a different way and taking advantage of collective intelligence". He also made available to the system the 22,000 pharmacies throughout the country for "early detection and monitoring of adherence to treatment. We understand that pharmacies also have a very important role to play in focusing on vulnerable groups, especially young people".
Finally, the four speakers and the head of Mental Health of the Community of Madrid agreed that digitalisation has enormous potential as a complementary instrument in the management of mental health, but that it will never be able to replace people. In conclusion, they stressed that it is good that this is the case because, otherwise, it would be counterproductive. To conclude, María López-Ibor narrated the fable Cherokee of the good wolf and the bad wolf inside us all. In this story, there are two wolves that live inside us and battle each other, one is evil and symbolises anger, jealousy, lies...; the other is good and symbolises happiness, peace, love... In this representation of the inherent duality that exists in everyone, the wolf that wins is the one that we feed: depending on which wolf we choose, we will become that model of person. The moral is clear, the attitude with which you face life will determine your chances of success or failure, having a positive attitude will help us to find solutions more quickly.
Caption: from left to right, María del Mar García Martín, doctor and professor of Psychiatry, Medical Psychology and Psychopathology at the Complutense University of Madrid; José Antonio González, global director of Labour Relations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Lucía Casanueva, managing partner of PROA; Mercedes Navío, coordinator of the Regional Office of Mental Health of the Community of Madrid; Dolors Marco, director of the Area of Health, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technology of PROA; Ana López-Casero, general treasurer and member of the General Council of Nursing; María López-Ibor, doctor and professor of Psychiatry, Medical Psychology and Psychopathology at the Complutense University of Madrid; Dolors Marco, Director of the Health, Pharma and Medical Technology Area of PROA; Ana López-Casero, General Treasurer and member of the Mental Health Committee of the General Nursing Council; María López-Ibor, Doctor and Professor of Psychiatry, Medical Psychology and Psychopathology at the Complutense University of Madrid; and Valvanuz Serna Ruiz, Managing Partner of PROA.