This year, the SA Federation for Mental Health (SAFMH) runs the theme “See me, hear me, include me: The impact of Covid-19 on persons with psychosocial disability”, focusing on raising awareness about the ways in which the global pandemic is affecting persons with psychosocial disability (PD).
The campaign seeks to bring to light the ongoing barriers to mental health services and ways in which support to persons with PD could be improved and made more accessible. The campaign also highlights how the pandemic has affected the mental health of all people, not just those with pre-existing mental health conditions.
According to the Mental Health Coordinating Council (2021), PD refers to disability stemming from mental illness, a condition which is more difficult to see or understand. While a diagnosis of mental illness and medical treatment is essential in addressing the illness, from a social model and human rights perspective it is the environmental barriers, lack of understanding, stigma and discrimination that a person with a mental illness experiences which imposes the disabling impact and possible violation of rights.
Persons with PD are known to experience increasing difficulty in accessing and even maintaining employment, housing, education and social relationships, all of which contribute to and perpetuate their disabilities. From this perspective, disability is not about a condition or impairment of the person, but is rather due to societal, environmental and institutional barriers that prevent the person from living a full and meaningful life.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused anxiety and fear, with prevention measures such as quarantining and isolation also leading to uncertainty, fear and anxiety for persons with PD (Ayhan Balik & Sukut, 2021).SAFMH always reminds people that nobody is immune to developing a mental health condition. And while there is absolutely no shame in admitting to having a mental illness and seeking treatment for it, it is important to remember that safeguarding mental health is essential, not just for persons with existing mental health conditions, but for everyone.
After all, there can be no health without mental health.
*********************************************************************************************************************
