A number of families have called a national helpline over quarrels that have erupted due to the pressures of living in a packed household.
Feeling the strain of having to spend days on end cooped up with too many other people, they have resorted to calling 1772 to ask for professional support.
These cases were among the 2,650 people who have called the helpline since it was set up at the end of March, soon after the outbreak of COVID-19.
Counsellor Matthew Bartolo told Times of Malta the outbreak was putting unprecedented pressure on families and relationships, especially because people staying at home had very little time for themselves.
“We used to speak about the importance of spending time together. That was when we rarely had time for each other.
“In reality, any kind of relationship needs to have breaks,” he said.
With the number of people living in small spaces in Malta, stress levels were bound to be high, Bartolo added, especially when coupled with the anxiety brought about by the pandemic.
While teleworking had its advantages, people were missing out on basic coping strategies they never realised they needed.
Some people could take months to recover
“Take sitting in traffic. We might not like it that much but at least one is spending some time alone, listening to music and distracted. Now a person walks from the kitchen table to the sofa,” he said.
The same applied to other rituals, he added, such as going to the gym or meeting a friend for a quick coffee – the absence of these moments of escape could make people irritable and prone to arguing.
He warned some people could take months to recover from the emotional and mental impact of the outbreak.
The helpline was launched specifically for those who feel lonely, isolated or who simply feel the need to hear another voice.
Among the most common callers are lonely elderly people with no one to talk to, according to information supplied by the Family Ministry.
Others admitted to needing to “occupy some of their time and to share their anxieties and concerns”.
People with mental health difficulties also make use of the helpline, especially with the virus pandemic and the requirement to stay at home fuelling their anxiety and depression, a ministry spokesman said.
And while struggles with loneliness and mental health had existed long before the outbreak, the stay-at-home measures have brought fresh challenges, such as keeping children occupied all day long.
Some of the calls come from parents having difficulty “containing their children”.
Family Minister Michael Falzon said that while the ministry was happy to see that the services being provided were working, he admitted that more needed to be done to address the loneliness issue.
“That’s why we are going to keep offering these services even after the pandemic, while coming up with other new initiatives and services to combat loneliness,” Falzon said.