Mental health of a human being is an integral part and essential component of her/his health. Mental health, according to the WHO definition, is a state of well-being in which a person realizes her/his abilities, s/he can withstand life's stress, work productively and benefit others. In other words, mental health is the basis of well-being and the embodiment of inner harmony of a person.

At the moment, however, in an emergency situation associated with COVID-19 pandemic, we see irritability, aggression, anxiety, grief from the loss of loved ones, uncertainty and fear for the future everywhere in our family members, acquaintances, colleagues, and these are the first symptoms that the inner harmony is lost and mental health is shaken. The data received from the Republican Center for Mental Health are quite disappointing, as currently 0.4% of the population of Kyrgyzstan have expressive mental health problems, and 20% have minor mental health problems, while 2/3 of psychotherapists and psychologists do not have the necessary knowledge to provide first aid to victims of emergency situations due to limited funding for mental health care from the state.

What is psychologically acceptable behavior in emergency situations? 

- It is the ability to cope with stress or a difficult life situation through the adoption of conscious strategies of action, i.e. an attempt to change a situation that is still manageable, or a situation that is uncontrollable and it is necessary to adapt to it, for example, the adoption of a fatal disease. 

Due to the emergency with pandemic worldwide, there is a need to follow certain rules of behavior within families in our country. What are the characteristics of communication between children and adolescents in these new social distance conditions due to the pandemic?

- It is important to teach children to keep usual relationships with friends in another format – i.e. social distancing;

- Teach children and adolescents to make responsible decisions considering new and unusual circumstances of the pandemic;

- Show them examples of proper emotion management and strategies to resolve conflicts with peers when they are unable to communicate in person and explain their position, their view of the conflict, considering the pandemic - mostly remotely;

- Teach to achieve goals with persistence, consistently, adapting to the new and changed conditions of the pandemic and the uncertainty of the immediate future, which is key to the psychological vitality and competitiveness of children and adolescents.

- If we talk about the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of mental disorders in women in emergency situations, we must take into account the following: there is a phenomenon of shame or even guilt in women's culture, especially - when information about the psychological disadvantage of a woman appears. As a result - these data are hidden.  Therefore, it is necessary to apply a life-affirming attitude: work to live, and it helps to cope with the situation. 

Another socially unprotected group strongly influenced by the pandemic is elderly people. The paradigm of prosperous aging, which shifts the emphasis from understanding aging according to the principle: disease - disability - depression - dementia - death, to understanding of prosperous, active aging with the preservation of autonomy, self-actualization, self-efficiency – is a completely different approach, allowing people to remain viable always, at any age. For this purpose, each elderly citizen of the republic needs to activate and reorganize individual psychological resources, remember which of them earlier in such situations allowed not only to cope with difficulties, but also to get out of difficult life situations even stronger. In other words, to remember a wise idea - everything that does not break us, makes us only stronger.

These and other issues were vividly discussed during the series of online trainings conducted by the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the guidance of Professor Alexander Makhnach, the deputy director of science, for Kyrgyzstani psychotherapists and psychologists in the field of diagnostics and therapy to provide first aid to COVID-19 victims. According to the results of the survey, all participants noted the high level of training materials preparation and professionalism of trainers, usefulness of the course from the point of view of understanding the problems provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some participants expressed readiness to conduct joint research and publications as well.

According to Zarina Ahmetova, a child psychologist who participated in the training, diagnosis tests were particularly interesting to practice throughout the studies. Her colleague Elena Batrakova found “Indirect game therapy with children” session especially interesting for herself.

The Director of The Republican Center for Mental Health under the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic expressed gratitude to UNDP for organizing a series of trainings on providing first psychological aid to victims of COVID-19. “During training, our practicing psychotherapists and psychologists got acquainted with the peculiarities of providing psychological and psychotherapeutic assistance to the most vulnerable group of people in emergency situations, like the elderly. Also, during the training, attention was paid to the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in women in emergency situations. The methods of psychotherapy of adolescents who have experienced psychological trauma from the perspective of the theory of adolescent vitality turned out to be very interesting and informative.”

This event was held under the auspices of the program "Russian experts for international development" for the transfer of knowledge on the "peer-to-peer" principle. The completion of the series of trainings coincided with Mental Health Day, celebrated worldwide on October 10 since 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation of Mental Health. Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary General, in his speech on the occasion of World Mental Health Day 2020 drew attention to the increase in the number of people suffering from mental disorders, and called for the strengthening of mental health care and joint action to reduce the impact of the pandemic on mental health, where depression is considered one of the main causes of diseases in the population.