In an interview with "Wake Up" about the suicides of patients infected with Covid-19, Dr. Arlinda Cerga, who has been living in England for 27 years where she practices as a psychologist and at the same time is an observer and researcher for mental health, said that suicide in patients with Covid-19 is already a global phenomenon, but different from the case of Albania. , western countries do not make such events public.
"In fact, it does not only happen in our country, but it gets more media attention in our country. Unfortunately it is a global phenomenon. The increase in suicides is what we have been talking about since March and April where we said that they are the cause of mental health problems and the increase in psychological stress during this period, especially in hospitalized patients, is extremely high. There are several factors that influence the increase of suicides and unfortunately they are not happening only in Albania. But in addition to psychological reasons, there are plenty of other reasons that come because of Covid disease. Some of the theories for explaining these attempts or acts are due to the lack of oxygen to the brain which causes damage to certain areas and creates inflammation in the brain, which then causes what are called incidents of confusion, of hallucinations, of psychoses. These are seen in up to 70% of cases, especially in resuscitation. This is global. "
Asked if such events have occurred in England, Dr. Cerga said:
"Yes, yes, they happen but they are not reflected in the press and media and here I want to stop [...] What is seen a lot is that Albania and India give strong media attention by unconsciously creating a cycle of imitations of suicide. It is part of editorial guidelines and policies, especially in Western countries, that suicides are not given importance because they create imitation in people who identify with the person who committed suicide. As little information as possible is given, not in the main title and no details should be given, where it happened, how it happened, because if you notice, the suicides happened to people suffering from Covid, they are all men, they have a certain identity, "They are in the hospital and everyone has jumped out of the window."
Përsa i përket imitimit të sjelljes nga personat me probleme të shëndetit mendor, ajo përmendi rastin e vetëvrasjes së Robin Williams dhe ndikimit që pati te të tjerët.
“Pas vetëvrasjes së Robin Williams u rritën vetëvrasjet në të njëjtën mënyrë tek personat që vuanin nga depresioni. Nuk duhet të jepet mënyra e kryerjes së aktit sepse siç thashë përdoret. Sigurisht që publiku duhet të informohet, po ka disa udhëzime për mënyrë si duhet ta bëjmë. Nuk duhet të spekulojmë. Të mos flasim për mënyrën si u krye.
Dr. Arlinda Cerga theksoi se Shqipëria ka probleme me specialistët e shëndetit mendor në krahasim me vendet e rajonit.
"The misfortune, for me, in Albania is that doctors have the lowest training in terms of mental health compared to the region. They are not prepared to diagnose, to recognize the symptoms. The staff there for me are heroes, but they are not trained to recognize these problems [...] There is an army of psychologists who are educated and most of them are out of work and this is the moment that they, with very little training which the WHO has ready, [to help diagnose problems]. ”
