Patterns of Mental Health Hotline Calls during and before Pandemic

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Abstract

The article compares calls to a mental health hotline from March 1 to April 17, 2020, with the same period in 2019. Calls related to stress, anxiety, suicide, and abuse are considered. In 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, the following dynamics are noted: the number of calls concerning anxious conditions increased 2.5 times; calls about suicidal acts appeared, the number of calls about self-harming behavior increased 2.5 times; the number of complaints on the topics of domestic, physical and sexual abuse increased almost 1.5 times. It is assumed that the results can be extrapolated and thus they reflect the current psychological difficulties of people as a whole.

General Information

Keywords: pandemic, COVID-19, coronavirus, mental health hotline

Journal rubric: Empirical Researches

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2020280206

For citation: Gerasimova A.A. Patterns of Mental Health Hotline Calls during and before Pandemic. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya = Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2020. Vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 109–119. DOI: 10.17759/cpp.2020280206. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Anna A. Gerasimova, Medical psychologist, FSBI National Medical Research Center of Cardiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5298-6084, e-mail: anna.al.gerasimova@gmail.com

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