Guillermo Miatello: "Mental health is more necessary today than ever"

Today, in the midst of a pandemic, with many people suffering from stress, anxiety and loneliness (among other symptoms caused by confinement) we give ourselves aware of something that psychologists and psychiatrists have always been announcing: the fundamental importance of mental health in the lives of people.

During these days in which our realities have been disturbed, when our routines have been altered and everything seems to have fallen apart, it is when we are most forced to confront ourselves, to look "towards inside".

There are our strengths and weaknesses, our fears and our virtues... and there is also our tolerance, our resilience and the always human capacity to get ahead in the face of adversity. Who knows, perhaps with a bit of goodwill, this bad drink (with all the hardship it represents) will be an opportunity to stop, prioritize our mental health and build a better future for us from now on. all.

In Madrid there is a group of specialized psychologists who have been working hard since the start of COVID-19 to provide support and professional accompaniment to people who need it. Today

we interview Guillermo Miatello, Psychologist Psychoanalyst, Director of the portal Tescuchamos.com.

• Related article: "Mental health: definition and characteristics according to psychology"

Interview with Guillermo Miatello: the importance of mental health during the pandemic

William Miatello He is a Psychologist, Magister in Psychoanalysis, and has been dedicated for more than ten years to providing face-to-face and online care to people with various emotional difficulties. In the middle of the pandemic, he opened the Tescuchamos.com Mental Health portal, which has grown at a dizzying pace in recent months. In this interview, Miatello tells us what are, from his perspective, the causes of this phenomenon, while describes the situation of Psychology in general and, in particular, from the world drama experienced by the coronavirus.

What is meant by mental health and what is its value?

To put it briefly, mental health defines the way a person relates to himself. People are permanently in the company of others: family, friends, colleagues, etc. Now, if there is someone with whom we must deal permanently, it is with ourselves. Well then: if we are not comfortable with who we are, with what we do, with how we live, discomfort, anguish and frustration are inevitable.

On the contrary, if we build a friendly way of relating to our dreams, projects, with the links we choose and with our life in general, surely we will not avoid having problems like everyone else, but we will feel more alive, more masters of our life... In this sense, the value of mental health is fundamental.

Do you think that sometimes people do not give it due importance?

Sometimes people out of comfort, inertia or not wanting to know (resistance) overestimate the importance of "functioning". Let me explain what I mean: sometimes we care that "things work out" at any cost, without paying too much attention to how it works. And there are many times when things work as we psychologists say, "dysfunctionally", so pathological or sick way, that is, with a great share of suffering for one of the agents.

That the suffering of singular agents is silenced by the very dynamics of the links does not mean say that he is not there, and we therapists know this very well that we are the ones who listen to the subject and his pain. In many families or couple relationships, for example, conflict or dissent tends to have bad press, then the usual way out is usually to "pretend that everything is going well" and that everything continues as of him is

And what role does therapy play in these cases?

Therapy represents the opportunity to build a limit to this. Starting from therapy, a person may consider that although there are things in his/her life that work, they may not work the way he/she wants. So, that someone can say and say this to herself is a very important step, because it will allow her to go building healthier ties with those who are part of their environment and making room for a life more in line with I want her.

How do you think the pandemic has affected crises linked to mental health?

Like any extreme situation, the pandemic has functioned as a kind of magnifying glass, magnifying pre-existing deficits, shortcomings, and virtues. This is what has happened, in my opinion, with the economy, the organization and the health system of the different countries: Those who have suffered the most from the pandemic have been those countries that were not structurally prepared for a coup similar.

Is there possible preparation for trauma?

A city is never fully prepared for a natural disaster like a tsunami or an earthquake. However, the intensity of the damage that occurs will depend on how the houses are built and how their engineering is organized from its foundations.

The same thing happens with human relationships and mental health: in couples that were "tied with wire" confinement has triggered conflicts and has ended up dissolving them; In people who sustained their emotional stability in a frenetic activity or a work addiction, the sudden and The forced interruption of their work has plunged them into uncertainty and today they are experiencing symptoms for the first time depressive. Indeed, the volume of psychological consultations has increased by almost 50% during these months.

What do you think are the symptoms or indications that a person needs therapy?

A person needs therapy when he feels that there is some excess of any kind in his life that is repeated, that hurts him and that the person cannot handle. This excess can be expressed in different aspects of his life: nervousness, anxiety, food, drink, shopping, a drug, work or a relationship, to name just a few examples.

In general, it is very difficult for a person to notice his excesses on his own, since they constitute what in psychoanalysis we call "his symptom of him." On the one hand, the person somehow benefits from his excesses and, on the other hand, these symptoms constitute deeply rooted ways of being that, to put it another way, define or sustain him. Now, there is a hinge point that happens to many people, in which this "gets out of hand." At that point, the person realizes that the damage from his symptom has a disproportionate magnitude, and there the anguish occurs.

At that point, a person needs to start therapy and confront, however hard it may be, with that unknown dimension of themselves that is expressing itself in their pathology. Therapy represents the place where a person can make way for that question.

What can psychology do for a person?

What psychology does is "support" the desire to heal on the part of the patient and accompany him on the journey of wondering why what happens to him he goes through, why he repeats as he repeats, why he suffers as he suffers and, fundamentally, what he is willing to do to deal with these issues and do something about it. regard.

When a person asks himself these questions, he often discovers that much of what he is experiencing has to do with things that he has chosen to ignore, although perhaps not consciously.

At that point, an unexplored universe opens up for the person in relation to certain long-delayed questions of their own: What do I want? How do I want to live my life? Asking these questions does not imply a panacea or the promise of a happy future, but they do represent something closer to the possibility of having a life.

What do you mean by "having a life"?

Sometimes we believe that living is subsisting, feeding, breathing. Of course these things are necessary, but they are not enough to build a life. Nor does accessing material goods (money, cars, houses) or cultural goods (prestige, fame) guarantee us to have a life. Life is a metaphor that accounts for how a person takes charge of his own dreams, his projects, his desire, his present and his future. So in summary and answering your question: psychology can make a person feel that they have a life, and not a mere existence.

How do current issues affect children?

Children feel and realize absolutely everything. The situations of anguish and discomfort of the parents have a direct impact on them for several reasons. reasons: first, they are more sensitive to periods of uncertainty such as those posed by a pandemic. Secondly, they are at the mercy of and fully dependent on adults and, thirdly, their psychic constitution is in process, which is why traumas tend to have much more lasting consequences in them than in adults, for whom the "structure" of their mental edifice is, so to speak, already built.

At the same time, it must be taken into account that children have lost access to essential places such as squares, parks and schools. There they usually find games, recreation and interaction with their peers, they build their social skills and "breathe" an air different from the emotional density that very frequently floods their homes. Having been restricted from these spaces promotes substitute escape routes that are not entirely recommended, such as those provided by video games or mobile devices.

How do we help them from our place?

The only way we adults can help children is by taking care of our own mental health. This is, in my opinion, the fundamental fact. No one can do for another what he is not willing to do for himself before. Freud said that identification is the most primitive and effective way of love. Children copy what they observe in their parents. If parents are overwhelmed, exceeded, frustrated, it doesn't matter what they preach or teach their children. If parents are strong, no matter how hard the blows, children will find the emotional resources to cope.

Do you think we can get something positive out of this whole situation?

I think so. Many times it is noticed in the clinic that a psychosomatic illness, a couple, professional or academic crisis ends up being the occasion that a person finds to stop, listen to himself and wonder what his place is in his family, in the couple, in the society. At the beginning of the treatment we often find that all these questions were silenced or on hold for the person: after all, we all know what "we have". what” to do to be a woman, a man, a father, a mother…now, asking ourselves about what does us good and limiting what harms us can be, paradoxically, the most difficult.

On a social level something similar happens. Perhaps this pandemic represents that "monster" that we have to face today to find out that, as Nietzsche said, "we are further from no one than from ourselves." Perhaps this adversity is a good opportunity to find out where we stand in our lives and with ourselves. It is a distressing moment and, therefore, mental health is more necessary today than ever. It is the commitment of each one of us to meet this need and take care of it, for our own good and for that of those around us.