More than 75% of Argentines confessed to having trouble sleeping, according to UBA’s Psychology University

The latest report on the mental health of the Argentine population carried out by the Social Psychology Observatory of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) showed worrying data. It is that 75.95% of Argentines confessed that they suffer sleep disturbances of a few kinds. Even with the COVID pandemic, the psychological discomfort and the “crisishas also become even more present.

As they put it, “Psychological discomfort is the result of the interaction of many factors. Among them stand out the biological, psychological and social factors, that is, the way in which we interpret reality and regulate our emotions”. And to find out the situation, they conducted a survey, at the end of 2022, among 2,295 people in the main urban centers of the country.

To put it more precisely, in this sixth report, entitled “Survey of the psychological state of the Argentine population“, sought to know the prevalence of non-specific psychological symptoms, depressive, anxious in the adult population, from 18 to 65 years old, in the Argentine Republic; in addition to analyzing the relationship between mental symptoms, pathological personality traits and behaviors related to healthy and unhealthy habits.

According to the current results, 12.27% of the sample is at risk of suffering from a mental disorder. With regard to socio-demographic variables, participants who perceive themselves as coming from low socio-economic sectors present significantly more risks than those who perceive themselves as coming from intermediate sectors and those who perceive themselves as coming from high sectors”, indicates the document.

According to the experts, these data show a percentage similar to that observed in 2021 and much higher than the percentages observed during the beginning of the year 2020.No return to pre-pandemic levelsbut in 2021 and 2022, we found higher percentages of risk of suffering from mental disorders than in the whole of 2020,” they pointed out.

But that’s not all, since, in addition, they indicated that “54.55% of participants believe they are going through a crisis”, being that the economic positioned itself in the first place, with 49.44%. Secondly, the vital, family, couple, professional, bereavement, identity crisis, due to violence of various kinds (family, gender, at work), among others, continued.

Even the data obtained by the OPSA experts indicated that “75.95% have some sleep disorderof which 38.61% reported insomnia or interrupted sleep, 21.39% slept less than usual, and 15.95% slept more than usual.

The obligatory question in this situation was “what do you do when you feel psychological discomfort or have emotional problems?” and his answer left no doubt: friendships, religion, and mental health professionals ranked first.

“40.44% talk with friends, 22.61% practice prayer, 22.09% turn to a professional psychologist, 21.57% take medication, without specifying which ones, 18.26% practice a sport,” the document states. While alerting: “8.89% consume alcohol”

On the other hand, the experts assessed what are the positive actions what Argentines are doing in response to this situation, but more than half of the sample (55.21%) assured not to carry out activities such as physical activity, meditation, religious practice or yoga.

Of the 44.79% who do so, 26.49% of the participants declare practicing meditation, 26.31% carry out artistic activities, 27.84% carry out community actions, 21.05% declare practicing a religion and 9, 15% practice yoga. Since some perform more than one.

In this sense, the experts pointed out that those who develop these positive actions “show lower levels of anxiety and depression than those who do not”. Additionally, they reported that “physical activity is associated with fewer symptoms and, conversely, tobacco drug use is associated with more symptoms.”

Finally, after being asked if they were undergoing psychological treatment, more than 50% of those who do not do so say they need it, but “34.75% have the handicap of not being able to afford it” . “In other words, the people most at risk of suffering from a mental disorder are those who have the most difficulty in accessing psychological treatment, being those who need it most”, underlined the experts of OPSA.

“Mental health and emotional well-being should not be considered in isolation from other essential factors of modern life,” the paper warns in the conclusions.

And he concludes: “The data reproduce those observed in previous studies, highlighting the need for active mental health policies promoting healthy behaviors, increasing access to psychological treatment and discouraging problematic behaviors.

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