By Mark Schlussel, Curus CEO, Originally published Mar 23, 2021 8:06:31 AM
COVID-19 is not only a threatening disease is also a state of mind. The “shots in arms” continue to rollout to provide an added layer of physical protection from this virus; Yet the hidden illness that confronts us is the impact this disease has had on our psyches. All of us have been impacted by this disease no matter which side of “the science” to which we subscribe. Each position reflects a state of mind. It also reflects a trauma to our accepted norms.
Numerous articles and studies are emerging about “long haulers” who have not experienced a reemergence of a robust sense of physical well-being. The question that is being asked with increasing frequency is, “When are things going to return to normal?” I am sure that after the 1918 pandemic, that same question was in the minds of all Americans. However, I suspect that the residual mental health impact continued for generations. Let’s put the behavioral aspects of COVID into that perspective.
Starting with our youngest, we have lived with a total and complete disruption of the process of education. Many educators are calling it a lost year that may never be recovered, especially for those in the least advantaged segments of our society.
The eldest in our society have been the most susceptible to the disease’s complications. Statistics have proved it to be life threatening based upon your age cohort. Family separation has left grandparents excluded from the life-sustaining hugs and kisses of their grandchildren. For a generation that lives to see their children growing and prospering — think of the mental health impact.
For the sandwich generation, for whom these years are there primary work years, we could quickly review a laundry list of profound mental health impacts they have faced— from their children being homeschooled; to the elimination of service jobs in many sectors; to the risk of service jobs provided in other sectors such as health care and human services; to the business owners who had thriving restaurants, entertainment venues and travel enterprises for both business and leisure; and yes to the healthcare workers who face both the uncertainty of their employment and the risk associated with each day they worked. Also, for many, working at home has meant learning to live and work in the same space without the peace of a dedicated work space or transitional time during commute.
In an article written by Julia Ries, “How Long It Might Take To Mentally Recover From The COVID-19 Pandemic”, she states:
Nearly a third of Americans have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression in the past year. That is a 200% jump from what was reported before the pandemic. Sejal Hathi, a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and board member of the mental health advocacy nonprofit Inseparable, said this growing mental health crisis can be traced back to both the direct viral effects of COVID-19 and the mass trauma the pandemic has afflicted our psyches.
The article continue:
Eventually, with the help of the vaccines, we’ll get a handle on COVID-19. The restrictions will lift, and we’ll be encouraged to go out and live our lives normally again. But it might take some time for us to bounce back from everything that’s happened since March 2020. Mentally healing from an event like a pandemic doesn’t happen overnight. Recovery takes time, patience and compassion.”
In a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal, author Betsy Morris states: “As people spend more time indoors, a mountain of scientific research says spending time in nature is critical to health and increases longevity. That means being in fresh air, under trees and away from cars and concrete—on a regular basis. And, no, the Peloton doesn’t count.” Morris continues, “Spending time in the woods — a practice the Japanese call ‘forest bathing’ — is strongly linked to lower blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones in decreased anxiety, depression and fatigue. Scientists ever belief found that human anticancer natural killer cells significantly increase after walks in a forest.”
The Wall Street Journal article confronts us with a new set of realities and opportunities. Do we really want to take advantage of the positive aspects of improving our mental health that we can control? How have we approached the pandemic to date? What is the normal lifestyle to which we we to return? Was the flexibility to work from home valuable? Did your family benefit from time to do things together? Do you benefit from forced boundaries and separation from too many social commitments? Answering these questions may well be a recipe for an improved state of mind we can generate for ourselves. We have proved to ourselves during this past year that we as Americans have the ability to adapt and deal with the unexpected. We can, to some extent, be our own mental health providers by taking advantage of those opportunities to be with people we cherish and to experience the beauty of nature and its wholesome impact on our state of mind.
We have the potential within us to improve our mental state of mind despite the challenges we will face for the foreseeable future as we continue to be impacted by the ongoing residual effects of COVID-19.
