By Faten Omar

KUWAIT: The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the mental health and well-being of people, but it still remains an unresolved issue for many people in Kuwait. Nearly three years have passed since the outbreak of the pandemic, but adults and children of Kuwait have not yet recovered from its psychological effects.

This great transformation has had a great psychological impact, with cases of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other psychological symptoms being seen, which people have been unable to deal with. Even after schools resumed at full capacity, children are still unable to adapt to their surroundings.

Ahmad Abdul Salam told Kuwait Times that his three-year-old son faces a struggle in accepting other children around him, noting that his son is not used to seeing anyone else other than his parents. “He still cries and has anxiety when other children come close to him at the nursery. Teaching him how to communicate is becoming harder and harder with time. We do not blame him — after all, he has not seen anyone else in two years,” he said.

Teacher Iman Al-Haddad said: “It seems that higher fees charged by therapists are due to the increase in the number of patients who have suffered from psychological issues and due to the pandemic — being quarantined for long periods under strict health measures, as well as other psychological, social and genetic causes.”

She added children were greatly affected. “Students in schools are more isolated these days and are always on their phones. They do not interact with people — only through social media. Students nowadays are living in their own bubbles,” Haddad said.

Parents continue to report higher levels of stress than non-parents and are more likely to say that their mental health has worsened after the pandemic. Um Fahad, a mother of two, was suffering from panic conditions since before the pandemic. The latest solution she opted for was to visit a psychiatrist, but the treatment was not completed due to the high fees charged for psychological consultations.

“In Kuwait, consultation starts at hundreds of dinars in some cases. How can people be in proper mental health shape if we cannot get the proper treatments,” she wondered, adding the pandemic did not just impact young people, but also their parents. “We had to deal with the stress of keeping our children’s mental health stable while taking care of our financial issues and our depression. The overload was too much to handle. The Kuwaiti government must consider what we went through and give all citizens free mental consultations,” Um Fahad added.

Several citizens and residents stressed the need to review the fees charged by psychiatric clinics and take steps to reduce them, as they sometimes are more expensive than airline tickets and hotel accommodations. Saba Al-Essa explained to Kuwait Times that it is cheaper to treat your mental issues in another country than in Kuwait. She suggested that private psychiatric clinics must reduce the cost of consultation, so that everyone can avail their services, calling on relevant institutions to activate their role in this field and open social and psychological service centers at all medical centers to serve Kuwaitis.

Meanwhile, Ali Al-Sultan stressed the importance of the role of specialists and psychological and social consultants to alleviate the suffering of mental patients as well as reduce the pressures experienced by some members of society to achieve a safe and comfortable environment for all. He said young people were more affected than older groups, explaining that some studies confirmed that the COVID-19 epidemic had destroyed the personalities of young people and led some youngsters to be introverts, while developing symptoms of mental illnesses.

The international medical journal Lancet conducted a study in 204 countries in 2020 that showed cases of depression and anxiety increased worldwide by more than a quarter. According to UNICEF, children have been directly affected by the pandemic, with some experiencing interruption in education. It is estimated that more than 1 in 7 adolescents aged 10 to 19 have been diagnosed with a mental disorder and 1 in 5 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 often feel depressed or have a lack of desire to do things.