Last week, the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) announced that poverty reached 55.5% of the population in the first quarter of 2024, and indigence reached 17.5%. The alarming figures grew in a context in which the deterioration of the income of a large part of the population is deepening and unemployment continues to grow nationwide. The consequences of the adjustment are impacting different areas of the daily lives of numerous people and affecting the mental health of a segment of the population. In this framework, according to psychologists and psychiatrists, the demand for consultations increased and in therapy it is recorded that more and more patients are currently going through moments of anguish and uncertainty caused precisely by the economic crisis.
This was confirmed to ONE Nicolás Kletzky, president of the College of Psychological Professionals of Entre Ríos, who pointed out: “I think we are experiencing moments of great uncertainty, crisis, great chaos, disorder, because we do not know how the country will be in a very short time.” time. So, that of course has an impact on a subjective level and that uncertainty is very distressing. People are very concerned about this: the uncertainty about what is going to happen economically. It is what is among the topics that most attract people to the therapeutic spaces that we propose.”
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“On an economic level, all these crises have repercussions. This thing of not knowing if you are going to be able to continue supporting yourself financially, of course causes uncertainty. The fact of not being able to structure yourself, organize yourself based on a salary, not knowing if next month you are going to continue in your job or they are going to fire you, generates a lot of anxiety. Other associated issues begin to appear, such as any type of fear, fear of being unemployed, of your job disappearing; or if you are independent, simply let your consumption go down and the demand you had in your sector decrease,” he added.
In turn, he analyzed: “This social, economic, and cultural problem that we are experiencing is very present. This whole crisis, of course, has an impact on a subjective level, and a problem with similar characteristics in another
context does not generate the impact that it is generating now.”
Adjustment times
The specialist observed that the general population is “experiencing times of adjustment not only on an economic level, but also on a social level, on a cultural level,” and specified: “We come from a pandemic, where it was already difficult to reunite with our loved ones. And now we have to adjust to other social changes, and in the meantime, we have to assimilate and adapt to the extent of the symbolic resources that one has.”
When asked if he observes a more exacerbated and irritable society in this context, he said: “What usually happens is that in these contexts is that on the one hand one adjusts, becomes anxious, and all the symptomatic issues that we mentioned appear. , but on the other hand they are also moments of a lot of mobilization in terms of demonstrations, criticism, there is much more political interest in what is happening, which perhaps a few years ago this topic was more muted.”
Finally, Kletzky regretted that access to mental health treatments is currently much more limited, because a segment of the population, taking into account the cuts in the agreements of professional associations with various social or prepaid works . In these cases too, those who need care do not usually find an emergency response in the public care system, because it has a limited number of professionals and resources. “In general, the most vulnerable people, with fewer resources, both symbolic, cognitive and also economic, always bear the brunt, because the adjustment is greater and tolerance is less,” she reflected.
Argentina, a country considered at the forefront in mental health
The demand for care in psychologists’ offices has been multiplying, starting with the pandemic first, with the feeling of loneliness and issues linked to social ties; and now in the face of this economic and social crisis. In this framework, it is worth noting that Argentina continues to be the country with the highest number of psychologists per capita: there are on average 222.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). And according to official data from the National Ministry of Health, Entre Ríos is among the provinces best positioned in terms of this trend: there are more than 1,900 psychologists providing services. Next are San Juan, with 1,100; and with smaller quantities, Santiago del Estero, Jujuy, Formosa, among others, follow.
That there are so many professionals has to do with this marked demand from the population, and in this context the long tradition in the development of different psychological therapies stands out, especially from the beginning of the 20th century, with the arrival to the country of the complete works of Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis.
On this topic, Nicolás Kletzky stressed: “We always talk about advanced, developed countries, as if that were very far from us. And Argentina, in terms of human, regulatory, and social rights, is an advanced country, it is a reference country, and precisely our Mental Health Law is at the forefront worldwide. And that is thanks to the social, to the social struggle, of colleagues and mental health workers who were able to fight for it.”
