Last month, the SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) told TimesLIVE it has been inundated with calls since March last year. Call volumes had more than doubled to 1,400 a day, and these numbers continue to increase every month.
Operations director Cassey Chambers said unemployment, work and financial stress and relationship problems amplified anxiety, stress and loneliness during the early months of the lockdown.
“We are receiving more calls related to depression, trauma and suicide. We are receiving many complex cases. Many people are desperate, burnt out and overwhelmed,” she said.
Dr Kerissa Naidoo, Old Mutual’s chief medical officer, said in 2019 the insurer paid out about 59% more in disability claims for psychiatric disorders than in 2016. Most claimants were aged between 30 and 50 and major depression accounted for 62% of psychiatric claims.