Concerned about your mental health – talk to your GP

If you experience despair, anxiety, irritation, prolonged fatigue, sleep disturbances – you can contact your family doctor

Everyone can experience mental health problems. Unfortunately, no one is immune from depression, constant stress, insomnia, and emotional imbalance. Especially now, in conditions of a long, exhausting, full-scale war.

The latest Gradus Research study, conducted in October 2023, showed that among the main complaints about mental health – anxiety/tension (50%), sleep disturbance (47%). These symptoms are already an important reason to contact your family doctor for support in matters of mental health.

The family doctor with whom the declaration is concluded is the patients’ first adviser in all health complaints. Including in matters of mental health, because it is inseparable from physical health. The influence of mental health on physical health, as well as vice versa, is obvious and scientifically and practically proven. Therefore, if you need psychological support – talk to your family doctor.

“Seek help – not weakness, not whim and not shame, but responsibility. Mental and physical health – Components of a person's overall health are equally important and need to be taken care of. Thanks to the work that we do together with colleagues within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program on the initiative of First Lady Elena Zelenskaya, today you can simply contact your family doctor or your child’s pediatrician and receive the necessary basic help, advice or consultation. If you experience despair, anxiety, irritability, prolonged fatigue, sleep disturbance, but at the same time the words “psychologist”, “psychiatrist”, “psychotherapist” scare you. – you can (and I highly recommend) see your family doctor. The number of those who can provide basic psychological assistance is constantly growing, – noted the Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko.

As of the beginning of 2024, almost 70 thousand medical workers (doctors, nurses, nurses, paramedics, heads of medical institutions, other medical workers) have been trained under the WHO mhGAP*program and can help in healthcare. Among them – ndash; 16 thousand “primary” doctors (family doctors, pediatricians, general practitioners), and this is more than every third, so the chances are that your doctor can recognize, diagnose and lend a helping hand, – very high.

*The program was launched by WHO in 2008 to improve access to mental health services. Currently, it is being implemented in more than 100 countries around the world, and its materials have been translated into more than 20 languages, including Ukrainian. The goal of MhGAP is to improve access to mental health services by attracting non-specialized staff – primary care health workers: family doctors, therapists, pediatricians, nurses, nurses, paramedics.

«There is no need to explain that the mental health of our people – this is that same resilience, Ukrainian resilience, which, on the one hand, has become a legend, and on the other – – she herself needs to be supported all the time. For everything rests on it, – notes First Lady Elena Zelenskaya.

A family doctor will in no way replace a psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist, but he will be able to provide assistance to the patient if necessary. redirect to a specialist.

Even if your GP has not received mhGAP training, you can still contact them. Without the appropriate training to provide mental health support, he or she may be able to find a specialist in the system who can help you.

You can discuss the following conditions with your family doctor: sleep disturbance, long-term loss of appetite, anxiety, obsessive thoughts that something bad might happen.

It is worth noting that this mental health service is absolutely free of charge, as it is provided under the Medical Guarantee Program. Already more than 850 primary health care institutions have a corresponding contract with the National Health Service of Ukraine for 2024.

You can view their list and find the one closest to you on the interactive map. Hotline operators will help you find similar data. NSZU – to do this, you need to call 16-77.

Help:creation of a free service to support mental health’I am at the “primary” level is a strategic response of the state to the increase in corresponding needs among Ukrainians.

Integration of health care services in primary health care institutions (PHC) is a component of the priority project of the Ministry of Health within the framework of the All-Ukrainian mental health program “You” how?” – initiatives of First Lady Elena Zelenskaya. Communication support is implemented with the support of WHO, the Government of Canada, and the International Medical Corps.

Communication campaign “How are you?” The All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program is being implemented with the support of the USAID project “Development of a sustainable public health system”, which is carried out by the Pact organization.

Source: MOH