Medics forced to 'dissociate' by the trauma of COVID-19 work
The Agenda
Europe;

Translating...

Content is automatically generated by Microsoft Azure Translator Text API. CGTN is not responsible for any of the translations.

Error loading player: No playable sources found
01:02

Having worked so hard to fight off the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors and nurses across the world are struggling with post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. 

In one of Italy's worst-hit hospitals, Damiano Rizzi leads a team of psychologists through his non-profit organisation Soleterre to help healthcare workers tackle the mental health problems brought on by the pandemic – as he told Stephen Cole on The Agenda this week.

"There is a particular defense mechanism that is called dissociation," Rizzi explained. A person with dissociation feels disconnected from the things he or she is doing; as Rizzi put it, "in order to work, you have to not think. During the experience, during the work, there is a hyperactivation and the doctors and nurses work without thinking."

However, "now that we are in a moment in which they think again," healthcare workers are suffering the effects – and need help from organizations like Soleterre. "Unfortunately, we have to find the money by ourselves," says Rizzi, who thinks that governments and workers fear the "stigmatization" of mental health provision.

Rizzi thinks mental health is a nationwide emergency – and not just for medics, as Italy starts to pick up the pieces. "The creation of a national psychological support fund would help not only healthcare nurses and doctors but also the normal population that now move from home to work – a lot of them have a lot of economic problems."

Watch The Agenda's full interview with Damiano Rizzi here:

Error loading player: No playable sources found
05:12
MORE FROM CGTN
{"type":2,"value":"The Agenda","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

The Agenda

14:58, 19-Jul-2025

Tourist coins pose giant problem at N. Ireland's famous causeway site
{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Europe

14:57, 19-Jul-2025

Passion for hand fans sizzles in burning Spanish heat
{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Europe

11:31, 19-Jul-2025

{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Europe

16:09, 18-Jul-2025

TOP NEWS
Xi, Mauritanian president exchange congratulations on 60 years of ties
{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Politics

06:45, 19-Jul-2025

China unveils new measures to boost foreign reinvestment
{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Economy

05:54, 19-Jul-2025

Bedouin fighters withdraw from Syria's Sweida after ceasefire efforts
{"type":2,"value":"CGTN","commentator":[],"valueShow":true,"commentatorShow":false}

Middle East

01:57, 20-Jul-2025