Family and Mental Health During the Confinement Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain: The Perspective of the Counselors Participating in Psychological Helpline Services

This work focuses on family functioning and mental health difficulties during confinement due to COVID-19 in Spain from the perspective of the counselors who collaborated in the psychological helpline services A total of 56 helpline psychological counselors from 4 different services participated in this study The principal results of this study highlight four important aspects: 1) the confinement has generated and/or aggravated previous family and mental health problems;2) a lack of emotional and/or instrumental support has been the most frequent family problem;3) anxiety symptoms and feelings of loneliness have proved to be the main manifestations of mental health problems;and 4) the resources most frequently used by the callers were knowing how to regulate their emotions, maintaining an organized life, and receiving support from their family and/or partner The implications of these results and a description of the situation in Spain are also described © Journal of Comparative Family Studies