Mental Health in Times of Crisis

The COVID-19 outbreak is creating increased demand for mental health services — lots of people are feeling anxious, or are getting depressed. At the same time, traditional mental health services have been disrupted. In-person sessions are not possible at the moment, nor are group sessions. How are providers and their clients adjusting? We take a look at mental health services and what people are doing to stay well during these difficult times. We also hear stories of families affected by serious mental health issues, and why they say the system fails too many people.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

• Dawn Brown, director of community engagement for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), discusses her organization’s guide for dealing with the fallout of COVID-19.
• We talk with Jonathan Singer, a professor of social work at Loyola University, about how the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing our mental health system to offer services online.
• Psychiatrist and documentarian Kenneth Paul Rosenberg talks about his recent film and book, “Bedlam: An Intimate Journey into America’s Mental Health Crisis,” which traces the failure of the U.S. mental health system.
• When you’re faced with a mental health crisis, who do you call? Internist and regular Pulse contributor Neda Frayha explains why primary care physicians might be the first and only access point for some people with mental health issues.
• Karriem Salaam, an adolescent and child psychiatrist at Friends Hospital in Philadelphia, discusses how people with previous trauma or mental health issues are coping during this global crisis.
• Author Melody Moezzi shares how poetry is helping her through difficult times. Her new book is “The Rumi Prescription.”
• Psychologist Scott Haas discusses how reframing our general take on this crisis could help us deal with this situation.