Almost a year and a half after its emergence, the coronavirus continues to have an effect on mental health, with issues particularly evident among children, young adults and immigrants.
Covid stress is hitting people hardest in the 18-to-34 age group. That's according to a study conducted by IRO Research Oy on behalf of the non-governmental organisation Mieli Mental Health Finland.
"We had expected that the elderly, who were forced to stay home, would suffer the most, but it was younger people — the ones going through their lives' most socially active phase, where you're making friendships for life, maybe even looking for a life partner — who were affected the hardest by the drastic changes to their lives," psychiatrist Kristian Wahlbeck, director of development for Mieli Mental Health Finland, told Yle News.
Language barriers grew during pandemic
Immigrants in Finland have also been disproportionally affected. A study by the Finnish Youth Research Society in the autumn of 2020 studied the effects of Covid on everyday lives of 15-to-25-year-olds, including their interactions with healthcare and employment services.
"When we looked at Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking youth compared to those who have another mother tongue, it was the non-Finnish and Swedish speakers that felt like their quality of life had deteriorated the most," said Wahlbeck.
For Amjad Sher, who arrived as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 and is now a member of Finland's national cricket team, the past year has been a trying one.
"When Covid started, I didn't know how to interact with my Finnish friends about the pandemic. Should I ask them, as regularly as I would before the pandemic, to meet and go out to dinner or sauna? I didn't know, and that was taking a toll on me," Sher explained.
The isolation, Sher adds, took its toll not just on him personally, but on the immigrants that he works with through Miitti, a non-profit aimed at integrating new arrivals into Finnish society.
"We don't really target a certain group of people, but most of our beneficiaries were the people who were on the verge of social isolation anyway. They were not just coming [to Miitti] to learn the language or to learn the dances; it was their safe zone," Sher explained, adding that when in-person meetings were banned, he was bombarded with messages from the programme's participants.
"It was heartbreaking," he says.
With organised activities eliminated, many started spending time together any way they could.
"A lot of people get annoyed by immigrants just hanging around in the market squares, but they can't see this from the immigrants' perspective," Sher said.
"In the immigrant community we've had to build a new family again. This is how we deal with our trauma. Almost every one of us goes through post-traumatic things, and we kind of deal with it by being around each other all the time. When this was all hitting, and you couldn't see each other, the only thing that comes in are the traumas of the past," he explained.
For many, the alternative to physical contact was connecting with a like-minded community online, a phenomenon that concerns Sher.
"I know friends who were locked in for, probably, 128 days who created their own other reality where there were people who were listening to them. Now that the restrictions have been lifted, you can see how strangely they're behaving," he said.
Mental health problems
Throughout the last quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021, Mieli registered a significant increase in the number of people seeking help and support for mental distress. The deterioration in mental health was also noticeable in the amount of sick leave taken last autumn and during the spring of this year.
"All other causes for sick leave actually decreased in 2020, except for anxiety disorder, which saw an increase. This is something we can attribute to the pandemic," Wahlbeck noted.
Wahlbeck’s greatest concern is the lack of support and care geared towards children and young adults. The issue is not a reluctance to seek help, but the backlog in public healthcare, where the wait-times can, at worst, be several years. He said he is particularly concerned that care at an early stage, which could be considered preventative, is neglected.
"There are those who currently have mild symptoms, but if we do not offer them the care they need for their depression and anxiety, we will notice, over time, a deterioration in their mental health. This could result in more sick leave and, at worst, an increase in suicides," Wahlbeck added.
With the public healthcare sector unable to keep up with demand, Wahlbeck said he believes it is time for schools and employers to step up and provide more support. In regard to the pandemic, Wahlbeck encourages employers to offer their staff an opportunity to discuss their feelings about returning to work after a year of social distancing, both with each other and, if needed, with a professional.
If a person is experiencing anxiety or depression, the first step is to speak to someone, he advises.
"It’s important to talk about how you are feeling, maybe initially with friends or people you trust. That can already ease some of the anxiety. But if that does not help, one can contact our crisis hotline or come to our crisis centre, free of charge, or contact your own health care centre (terveyskeskus)," says Wahlbeck.
Sisu: A double-edged sword
Known for their fortitude, Finns have relied on "sisu" (a Finnish term associated with stoic determination, bravery and resilience) to get through many historical crises. But to those working in mental health, sisu is a double-edged sword.
"This idea that by clenching our teeth we can get through anything, it does help us move forward, but in regard to mental health — especially in light of a pandemic that is giving rise to a lot of challenges — sisu sometimes results in people being ashamed of their anxiety, and it keeps them from seeking help. It can have a detrimental effect on the stigmatisation of mental health care," said Jaakko Mustakallio, head of the upcoming _Mielenturvaa-_campaign by PR firm Ellun Kanat, in collaboration withMieli Mental Health Finland and Mielenterveyspooli, which aims to place more responsibility on the workplace in providing mental health services for their employees.
There is, however, an upside to Finnish fortitude.
"The positive side of sisu is our resilience. We've made it through war and misery – we ought to get through a pandemic as well," Wahlbeck said.
One of the reasons Finland had such a good handle on this global crisis, he adds, is the country's high level of trust in authority and ability to separate disinformation from reputable news.
"There was not the kind of spread of disinformation in Finland, as in perhaps other countries. We don’t have the same level of vaccine scepticism as in other places. And there is a high level of trust in authorities that endured throughout the entirety of the pandemic," says Wahlbeck.
In terms of coming out of our socially distanced lives, Wahlbeck said there's light at the end of the tunnel, in part because of Finland's vaccination rollout. He is also encouraged by the lowered threshold in seeking mental health care.
"People are more willing than before to seek help, especially among younger generations. Their attitude toward mental health care is more accepting, so there has definitely been a positive shift," he said.
"The pandemic has placed mental health back on the agenda, with people being able to discuss how they are doing emotionally. There is a new openness surrounding mental health, and that is an improvement," he concludes.