Robert Freudenthal

The mental health consequences of our pandemic response are predictable, with many warning  right from the start of the likely psychiatric consequences of the withdrawing of most structures of civic society for a period of months on end. 

Too often the priorities are framed as a balancing act between “physical health consequences from the virus” vs “mental health consequences from the pandemic response,” with little or no attention as to what psychiatric treatments actually consist of. This has led to a focus on how overwhelmed psychiatric services are, but not on the details of what the psychiatric response actually has been or could be.

The psychiatric system does not exist as a separate entity to the medical establishment; rather it is part and parcel of our healthcare system.