Post-pandemic self-reported mental health of mental healthcare professionals in the Netherlands compared to during the pandemic:An online longitudinal follow-up study

The mental health of professionals was under pressure during- and post-pandemic. Initially, the focus was mainly on the health workers in the hospitals, but over time the pressure shifted to other sectors, including mental health care. An increase in workload and decrease in mental health of healthcare professionals in mental health care can lead to a decrease in the available care capacity. In an earlier online survey of mental health professionals, 1,300 professionals from a large number of mental healthcare institutions were involved. In this study, conducted in September 2021, about half of the respondents reported increased levels of stress. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness were also increasingly experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 4.2% replied that they were considering resigning their jobs. One of the recommendations of this previous study was to monitor these professionals repeatedly to be able to make an estimate of the stress and vision of work during the course of the pandemic and afterwards. Following this recommendation, the online survey was repeated. The aim of the current online longitudinal follow-up study was to re-evaluated mental status of healthcare workers. 510 healthcare workers participated in this follow-up survey. The reported mental health complaints were significantly higher during compared to post-pandemic. Respondents were less able to maintain work/life balance during the pandemic and even reported a shift to work. However, the majority of respondents indicated that they had restored this balance post-pandemic. Moreover, more sick leave was reported post-pandemic than during the pandemic and more frequent absences post-pandemic. This highlights the importance of focusing on resilience over training and career

Mental support for health care professionals essential during the COVID-19 pandemic:Updates

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues and concerns regarding its consequences rise. This concern is addressed by other professionals (e.g. the use of a multidisciplinary approach1 or the possible increase in suicidal behaviour).2 However, the continuing huge pressure on mental health care professionals warrants the supporting of their mental health but regretfully, this topic received little attention

De maatschappij komt de spreekkamer binnen:Aandacht voor complotdenken en anti-overheidssentimenten in de GGZ

Corona heeft geleid tot een toename aan diverse psychische klachten onder de bevolking, de werkdruk onder hulpverleners is gestegen. De gevolgen zullen in de ggz waarschijnlijk nog lang voelbaar zijn, betogen Arno van Dam en collega’s. ‘Door de polarisatie in de samenleving van de afgelopen jaren is de buitenwereld veel nadrukkelijk de behandelkamer binnengekomen.

De vaart er weer in:Een ver'helder'ende visie uit het ggz-werkveld

Lange wachtlijsten in de ggz, het is inmiddels bij de meesten wel bekend. Minister Helder gaf begin augustus antwoord op de vragen over de (specialistische) ggz. De illusie wordt gewekt dat het vertrek van hoogopgeleid personeel (GZ-psychologen en Klinisch psychologen) uit de specialistische ggz (sggz) de verklaring is voor de problemen binnen de ggz. Het zou voornamelijk een financiële reden zijn, aangezien personeel vertrekt om als zzp-er te gaan werken. De praktijk laat echter zien dat er veel meer aan de hand is

Diagnostic accuracy of the Dutch version of the Somatic Symptom Disorder: B Criteria Scale (SSD-12) compared to the Whiteley Index (WI) and PHQ-15 in a clinical population

Stress and Psychopatholog