Each year on October 10th, World Mental Health Day raises awareness of mental health issues and highlights the importance of seeking help.
The day challenges the stigma around talking about our mental wellbeing, and our understanding of when to seek professional help and support.
The theme of World Mental Health Day 2020 is ‘mental health for all’, with a hope to put mental health awareness at the forefront of people’s minds.
In a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in 2017, it was estimated that around 792 million people around the world suffer from a mental health condition¹, with one in four people expected to have a mental health condition at some stage of their life; namely depression, anxiety and stress². Yet, in the current climate with health fears and financial issues arising as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, how many more people are struggling with their mental health?
COVID-19 and mental health
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, this year has been extremely challenging for those already suffering with mental health issues, and it is believed from early indications that it has also contributed to an increase in the number of people suffering from conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress and OCD.
During the coronavirus outbreak, Priory Wellbeing Centre Dubai produced a number of advice and support videos and launched an online therapy service to provide remote access to mental health support, which we continue to offer our patients.
Supporting mental health online
To help reduce the barriers to treatment, our online therapy service offers a highly secure and confidential video therapy service with our expert clinical team.
Through Zoom for Healthcare, we are able to combine our expertise with technology to provide quick access to mental health support.
Patients using our online therapy service are able to benefit from:
- Therapy sessions with a Priory therapist, in the comfort of your own home or somewhere else that’s convenient for you
- Expert 1:1 psychiatric follow up and psychotherapy
- A secure HIPAA compliant service delivered through your mobile or tablet device with access to the internet
- The ability to engage with your therapist at times that suit you best
- Day, evening and weekend appointments
- The choice to receive as many therapy sessions as you need or want
When treating certain mental health conditions through our online therapy service, one of the therapeutic techniques we find that our patients benefit from is cognitive behaviour therapy or CBT.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used forms of psychotherapy for treating conditions such as anxiety, depression, stress and OCD.
CBT enables people to challenge and move beyond unhealthy thoughts and beliefs that they hold onto which exacerbate the symptoms of their mental health condition.
For example, when someone is dealing with depression, they tend to think negatively about themselves and the world around them, which causes them to feel low. Through CBT, a person can start to identify the exact thoughts that lead to them feeling depressed. They then have the opportunity to learn how to replace these thoughts with more positive and realistic ones in order to improve their mood.
Mental health support available at Priory in Dubai
Seeking help for a mental health condition is so important. With access to the right support and treatment, you give yourself the opportunity to live a healthier and more positive life.
If you or a loved one is struggling with the symptoms of depression, anxiety or another mental health condition, and you feel that you need to seek professional support, our experienced psychiatrists and psychologist here at Priory Wellbeing Centre Dubai are committed to providing everyone we see with the expert treatment they need in order to start feeling better.
If you would like to find out more information about the treatment programmes that we provide, you can call us on (+971) 4 245 3800 to speak to one of our administrative team, in confidence, or submit an online enquire form.
Refs:
[1] https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health
[2] https://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/