They said we would come out stronger, but the reality is that after the Covid-19 pandemic, the health and mental well-being of many people has worsened. First came the problems sleeping and the feeling of decay; discouragement and feeling bad about oneself, they did it right after. This is how the prevalence of depression and anxiety has grown by more than 25% worldwide, the World Health Organization has made the calculations.
They themselves estimate that not long after, around the year 2030, mental health problems will be the main cause of disability in the world. Because three years have passed and the end of the health emergency has been decreed, but the deterioration of the emotional state continues to worsen. Four out of 10 Spaniards say they do not enjoy good mental health, 47.2% have experienced anxiety or panic attacks and, what is more worrying, 15% have thought about suicide. All of these are conclusions from The Mental Health Situation in Spain, a study prepared by the Spain Mental Health Confederation.
For Rocío Pomares, a specialist in sports and health psychology who has accompanied us on the last episode of this podcast, the plan to face these figures must include prevention: “the mind is like an ocean in which we have a series of waves -which are emotions- and we have to learn to surf them, but it is very difficult for us because nobody has trained us for it. You have to work on self-knowledge since we are children ”, she tells us.
Those waves can wash over anyone, at any time. In 2021, the “I have a generalized anxiety disorder” by Sergio Ruiz, a Granada CF footballer, a team recently promoted to LaLiga Santander, awakened understanding inside and outside of football. The model Beatriz Fernández went through a similar process and by telling it, she has begun to feel “a liberation and a connection, learning to love myself with my insecurities and my fears.” They are some of those who have been encouraged to let go and tell it, to cry now and laugh later -as he sang in his Grita Jarabe de Palo- thus contributing to breaking down the taboo, that mental health concerns everyone, but the stigma persists for some.
