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| Psychiatry Clinic in Pristina |
For nine months of this year, 89 patients have sought treatment at the Psychiatry Clinic in Pristina, in the addiction ward. This number, according to the officials of this clinic, is significantly higher compared to last year, which was a total of 64 patients.
Vjollca Ramiqi, a psychiatrist at the Psychiatry Clinic at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo, told Radio Free Europe that most of the patients who sought treatment at this clinic were addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Of the 89 patients, 26 were addicted to heroin, 11 were addicted to marijuana, another 25 were addicted to multiple psychoactive substances, while 14 were addicted to alcohol and 3 were addicted to sedatives.
Ramiqi said the number of patients seeking treatment has been higher since the beginning of the COVID-19.
"COVID-19 has affected the development of the underlying disease of patients or users of psychoactive substances. The number of patients who seek help in the specialist ambulance is in most cases for patients who have problems in managing anxiety and depression", said Ramiqi.
The biggest concern is the young age of patients, who according to the Psychiatry Clinic, are from 18 years old and above, but there are cases when people aged 15 and 16 have sought treatment.
Ramiqi said that preventive measures should be taken, especially in school programs related to information and consequences of drug use, as well as to have as many publicity and information programs in the media by the responsible experts.
Even the psychologist, Yll Avdiaj estimates that the Kosovo Police should take even more measures in prevention and make more frequent checks in secondary and primary schools.
The increase in requests for psychotherapeutic treatment, according to psychologist Yll Avdiaj, occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, compared to 2019 and 2020, the demand for treatment has increased as the pandemic has caused anxiety and depression in the population.
Avdiaj said that addiction to narcotics is affected by conflicts or problems that preoccupy people in daily life, and the inability to deal with those problems can push them towards these phenomena.
"Normally the pandemic has caused a kind of general anxiety, not only in Kosovo, so this has been a kind of mechanism perhaps for these people in order to calm themselves or try to overcome this fear or difficulty that they are going through. "The pandemic is just one factor that has managed to reveal these problems, which people have probably had before," Avdiaj told Radio Free Europe.
The number of cocaine users in Kosovo is increasing
The director of the medical-psychotherapeutic center "Labyrinth", Safet Blakaj told Radio Free Europe that in addition to the use of marijuana, which is widespread in Kosovo, there is a rapid increase in cocaine users.
Not only here in the capital (Pristina), but it has begun to expand in addition to large centers in small places. "In the last year we have seen cases that come and are aged 18-23, which is very worrying", said Blakaj.
Blakaj said that it is not only the pandemic that has affected the increase in the number of drug users. According to him, growth has been the trend before the pandemic and has continued to grow much faster now.
"There is no prevention program at the national level here in Kosovo and this makes the situation even worse. We must react to this phenomenon in the preparation of prevention programs, especially for young people", said Blakaj.