The Management of the Health Services of the Lanzarote Health Area, expands and reinforces the Psychology service in the Primary Care health centers of the island with the incorporation of four new professionals, the Ministry of Health advances. Thus, psychological care is guaranteed in all Basic Health Zones of Lanzarote, it collects.
This measure, which is one of the actions included in the Comprehensive Primary and Community Care Strategy, +AP, consolidates the figure of the psychologist in Primary Care. To the two professionals who have been providing the service in the health centers of Valterra, Costa Teguise, Titerroy and San Bartolomé since August, four new psychologists are now joining to cover the health centers and peripheral offices of Mala, Haría, Tinajo, Tahíche, Yaiza, Tías, Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca and Playa Honda, they advance.
Since the Psychology consultation was launched in Primary Care in Lanzarote in August 2022, the professionals of this service have carried out a total of 1,099 first consultations, of which 582 were during 2022 and 426 in the first four months of this year. In addition, they have attended 2,196 subsequent consultations in the same period, of which 1,095 were carried out last year and 1,101 this year.
The main objective of this initiative is to "respond to Common Mental Disorders of a mild and moderate nature, mainly anxiety and depression, whose prevalence has been increasing during the pandemic", confirms Health. In addition, it seeks, on the one hand, to make psychological treatments "accessible at the first level of care and, on the other hand, to avoid the chronicity of these clinical processes", they advance.
This service performs the approach and monitoring of patients with mild disorders, trying to improve their ability to cope with everyday problems and reduce medicalization in functional emotional processes and avoid the chronification of treatments on the other hand.
This service also tries to optimize interventions aimed at identifying and preventing suicidal behaviors and in order to refer cases of Severe Mental Disorder to the Mental Health unit of Specialized Care, they conclude.