Christmas is a joyful and sociable festival for most people. Nevertheless, or perhaps precisely because of this, those are often forgotten for whom Christmas is not necessarily an occasion for joy. Family conflicts, loneliness – there are many reasons why people seek help from the psychiatric crisis service around the holidays. The psychologist Regina Klusch heads the social psychiatric service in Starnberg as part of a dual leadership. A conversation about the often forgotten aspects of Christmas.
SZ: Ms. Klusch, what help do you offer if someone is not doing well over the holidays?
Regina Klusch: We are a counseling center for mental health, both for those affected and for relatives. We advise people with mental illnesses all year round. On top of that, we offer help in acute emergencies through the Psychiatry Crisis Service. If someone from the district calls the central control center and urgently needs help, we can now send a team out around the clock to take care of those affected on the spot. This can be very helpful, especially over the holidays, as otherwise people would not get any help for several days. We offer support as promptly as possible, which is often crucial, especially in crisis service.
Who is calling you?
Over Christmas it is mainly people who we haven’t looked after before. This may mean that people have not yet sought help. Maybe they haven’t needed any, and there is an acute crisis over Christmas. This can be a quarrel in the family that can be so stressful that you need psychiatric advice – even if you do not suffer from a mental illness. But loneliness also emerges, of course, when everyone else meets their families and you don’t have any yourself. A phone call with the control center often helps, so that our on-site help is usually not needed at all. But I would estimate that 70 percent of our clients live alone. Of course, the pandemic has not improved this.
This year’s Christmas was now the second under Corona conditions. How has the pandemic affected your work?
What can definitely be said is that we have significantly more inquiries. These include people whose mental illness has been exacerbated by the pandemic, but also people who have existential concerns about the corona measures. We also offer help in life crises, in which we sometimes only accompany people for a short period of time – depending on how far our clients want this and how much they get involved. Working prophylactically is very important to us so that a crisis does not lead to mental illness.
Can it be said which people are particularly affected by the pandemic measures?
We saw a significant increase in those over 60. That was even clearer this year than last year, the longer the pandemic lasts, the more people have to struggle with the consequences of the measures. At Christmas this is even more evident, especially with older people. Many often have no one to party with and then feel even more lonely. The holidays are an intense time. For most of them this is to be understood positively, but there are also some people to whom this does not apply.
The Psychiatry Crisis Service can be reached around the clock on the free phone number 0800/6553000. Anyone looking for long-term help can contact the Starnberg Social Psychiatric Service at 08151/78771.