Extreme Heat Acts As A Trigger For Mental Disorders | The USA Print – THE USA PRINT
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The heat waves, increasingly frequent and intense in summer, increase the psychotic breaks and aggravate the disorders of mental health. Not only the light changes and usual temperatures of the arrival of the spring or fall, but also the extreme temperatures summer affect this group.
“It has been seen that, when the temperature, there are more episodes of behavior disturbances, as psychotic breaks, and more imbalances of disorders that had already debuted previously”, certifies the head of the Psychiatry Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona), Narcis Cardoner. In addition, in summer they also increase the suicide risk and the eating disorders (TCA) due to the greater exposure of the body, as warned by the Association Against Anorexia and Bulimia of Catalonia (Acab).
Doctor Cardoner warns that, in times of a “significant” increase in temperatures, there may be “decompensations” in patients already suffering from a mental disorder. “There is more psychiatric admissions or people who make a Urgent consultation by this type of problem”, warns this psychiatrist. The heat, when maintained over time, causes Difficulty falling asleep, and this lack of sleep increases, in turn, the risk of decompensation.
“There is emotional changes, The people are more tired, irritable, and there are more aggressive behaviors. All this happens during sustained peaks of high temperatures”, warns this psychiatrist, who also points out that heat waves also affect the “fragile” people, that is, to the elderly with health problems. “These temperature increases can cause physical problems dehydration, which leads older people to undergo behavioral changes”. Thus, the “dementia” is a stressor that can cause behavioral changes by mixing with extreme heat. “There is no a single explanation about this phenomenon, which has multiple causes. But it’s objectified,” says Cardoner.
In a hospital like Sant Pau, there is a general increase in general emergencies during heat waves, including psychiatric emergencies. “Temperature rises are a situation of overall risk. last year for example [Barcelona vivió tres olas de calor administrativamente declaradas el verano de 2022] there was a significant increase in global emergencies but not only for mental health,” says this psychiatrist.
More eating disorders
He summer and the body exposure, more than the heat itself, they also increase the eating disorders (TCA). Every September, the Association Against Anorexia and Bulimia of Catalonia (Acab) sees a spike in users as a result of summer ravages. “When summer comes, we put on Less clothes or we go with lighter clothes, the body is shown more, people go to the beach… And we see anxiety spikes and of restrictive, compensatory behaviors”, points out the director of Acab, Sara Bujalance.
Thus, he warns, the TACs “shoot up”, just like the “anguish and anxiety”. But it’s not exactly in summer when there are “more demand for help”, but on the way back, in September and October. “In the pandemic we saw a very high increase. The demand for help to the association increases between 20% and 25% in September and October”, he points out. And, although the situation has improved with respect to the pre-pandemic era (Covid-19 triggered eating disorders), society continues to “drag” eating disorders that worsened with the coronavirus.
“We still see many more cases than in 2020. We are still in a number of cases much higher than that which existed in 2018 and 2019. We continue to serve approximately twice as many cases as then. We are still very high and we have not gone down to the pre-pandemic numbers,” warns Bujalance.
More risk of suicide
extreme heat is “harmful” in general health and, specifically, in people’s mental health. “It has been proven that there is a relationship between high temperatures and suicide risk,” says for his part Daniel Munoz-Samons, psychiatrist and coordinator of the Hospitalization Unit and the Child and Adolescent Psychotic Disorders Unit of the Sant Joan de Deu Hospital (Esplugues de Llobregat). “If we talk about specific disorders, there are studies that show that [las olas de calor] trigger bipolar disorders and dementias”, adds Munoz-Samons.
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In the specific case of Young, Some publications point out that, with the extreme temperatures, the children and adolescents suffer more depressive disorders and bipolar disorders, and the young adults, more psychotic disorders. Psychiatrists also see disturbances of this type with the arrival of spring, but not so much because of the heat, but because of the “change of light” “In spring we see plus bipolar and manic disorders, but for him light change. Is different. The heat causes more imbalances on serotonin,” says Muñoz-Samons.
Like his colleague Cardoner, this psychiatrist remembers that heat causes “sleep disturbances” which increases the risk of mental health disorders, in addition to causing irritability. “Some long waves of heat alter routines, family reconciliation and always hit the disadvantaged classes more”, concludes Muñoz-Samons.
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