Help to cope with stress: a hotline has appeared for doctors struggling with COVID-19

The losses that many doctors face at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus are very stressful. Recently from such pressure Dr. Lorna Brin committed suicide. He writes about it NBC News.

Photo: Shutterstock

Calls in medical support service — 1 (888) 409-01-41 — often begin with an apology from a desperate doctor.

"They say things like, 'Sorry to bother you,'" said Dr. Mona Masood, who, with the help of four other psychiatrists, started a hotline to help doctors cope with the stress of fighting the coronavirus.

“Then they talk about the patients they've treated, how they have to go to work, how they don't have proper personal protective equipment, how they feel overwhelmed and don't feel supported by the authorities,” says Masood .

Some doctors already, as Masood said, already "were in the balance of depression, and then there was a coronavirus."

“All those things that were weighing on them before had to be put on the back burner when COVID-19 happened, and then they all burned out,” Masood said.

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Laura Breen's father, Dr Philip Breen, called her another "victim" of the pandemic and said she had no history of mental health problems.

Dr. Smith Gautam, a Chicago psychiatrist and co-founder of the hotline, says she fears that Bryn could become one of many before the virus disappears.

“Doctors tend to be perfectionists who have difficulty asking for help,” Gautam said.

Masoud said that although many doctors are grateful for the public demonstration of gratitude, others feel too guilty.

“Suddenly we are called heroes and put on a pedestal, and we have a deep fear that we are not heroes,” Masood said. “Some doctors feel vulnerable and have no place to express it.”

Dr. Margaret Seide, a psychiatrist from New York who is not affiliated with the hotline, says this is not uncommon among doctors.

“Many doctors feel unworthy of praise,” she said. “Even if they saved 10 people that day, they think about the one person they couldn’t save.”

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Bryn worked at Allen’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, in northern Manhattan.

After news of her death broke, grieving workers were encouraged to speak with a counselor, a standard procedure at many hospitals as well as at companies like NBCUniversal.

Masoud said that she realized that a hotline specifically for doctors, which was staffed by doctors, was necessary.

“I found so many messages about personal mental health,” she said. “Doctors had daily stress, as well as anticipatory anxiety about patients and doctors getting sick and bringing the virus home to their families.”

Hot line works daily from 8:00 a.m. until midnight (according to the time of the east coast of the USA) by number 1 (888) 409-01-41. Everything is free and confidential.

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