The coronavirus is creating a "shadow" mental illness pandemic

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi everybody,
If the coronavirus is affecting your mental health, you are not alone.  See the article below.
Please, everyone, take care, and feel free to share all your thoughts and feelings on the message board.

Richard


"The coronavirus pandemic is pushing America into a mental health crisis:  A shadow pandemic of mental illness is emerging, but America's behavioral health system is unprepared, ill-equipped and already on the brink of financial collapse in many places."
by William Wan, Washington Post


https://apple.news/A9D3v5SToQMKnGI_UChDP4w

[Twoapenny]

Hi Dr G

I think the situation in the UK is almost identical.  Mental health services and support for anything like disability, older people who can't get out, addiction problems and so on, is very poor anyway, and with all of this on top I think it's safe to say there's no way people will be able to get help when they need it.  And we've got Brexit coming up as well!  The country will be destroyed, I think it's safe to say.

Interestingly, though, the virus itself isn't the scariest thing for me.  It's a worry, but we're taking all the precautions we can and realistically our chances of catching it are very low.  But not being able to trust government, public officials, media outlets is very frightening, as is having to wade through information on the internet trying to find facts and figures that are accurate and helpful is very worrying.  I am finding the picture being painted by doctors and scientists on Twitter more believeable than anything the government is churning out.  Society's attitude to vulnerable people troubles me hugely, with some people more concerned about going shopping than the safety of elderly or disabled people in their communities.  That is a problem for me as well.  There's going to be a lot of cleaning up to do after this, in more ways than one.

I hope you and your family are safe and keeping well, Dr G.  Thank you for giving us this safe space to come to xx

[sKePTiKal]

Couldn't get the link to open, but I've read other articles concerned about the same things.

We've been doing OK, on the farm. There have been moments though when we've taken turns being carried by the rest. (There is my D and myself, her boyfriend and friend - who drove cross-country last fall to "help her"; uninvited and unasked - who has turned out to be a solid resource.)

We spent much time "sitting around the table" - talking. Which leads to arguments, over what's true/what's not in the news... people expressing their fears in unhealthy ways... poor, resurrected coping mechanisms... I'm often accused of "not caring" -- simply because here at the farm, there are lots of things to "do" to stay busy and not ruminate, and because we really ARE safe-er out here and some days, that's all I have the energy to care about. As if caring was enough to change things. Also - like the tide - we'll group up, interact and then flow back into our own personal space again for awhile. There is enough room to make that possible and it's a very good thing.

For me, one of the most grating things is simply the IDEA (not the actuality; it doesn't affect me at all) that so many places have closed down. It's OK to go to walmart but not church? Doesn't make sense. Restaurants? There is usually a fair amount of distance between tables; cafeterias are mostly a thing of the past. People almost always have been social distancing in line in bank lobbies... giving people a little room to wait for a teller.

The most personally disturbing experience has been masks - and the increased inability to "read" people just from their eye expressions. I see a LOT of fear over those masks; and because of being masked - it seems many feel gagged; made voiceless - and powerless to use their voice to connect normally with groups of people out in public. Those slight smile/frown facial gestures communicate a LOT of information that's denied by a mask... and even more so than normal, people are existing in their own little bubble - and perceiving each other as a potential "threat" due to social distancing.

Told the grocery cashier last week - when she apologized for something trivial - that I thought I'd paint a bright smiley face on my mask; maybe that would help people relax a little... and not exaggerate their expectations of doing simple tasks being a life or death situation. I don't blame them, mind you - with the contradictory information that exists - who really knows for sure right now? The virus, treatments, etc are all still being researched - and recommendations change when there is more data to create hypotheses.

There is widespread uncertainty, a generalized anxiety from cognitive dissonance, sometimes fear of mortality (personally or loved ones), distrust and suspicion of institution's and expert's motives - and the actual information, and because of stay at home orders, a sense of being confined against our will. None of that contributes to healthy behaviors or connections. So of course there is going to be an increase in mental/emotional issues.

But many people are able to identify their issues, and sort it out themselves. Or with help from close friends/family. What concerns me are the people who've struggled with undiagnosed, untreated issues for a very long time - because most private therapists aren't seeing patients around here.

[Hopalong]

Hi, Doc G--

I don't know where the large-scale resources will come from nor how bad it will be.
That's a good one for feeding my fear furnace though. Post-apocalyptic, etc.
To counteract it locally what I hope will happen includes:

Less fear of masks (LOVE Amber's smiley face idea, more comedy will help). I hope they will eventually not be any weirder than a farmer using a handkerchief.

Peer volunteers offering to zoom-support people who are struggling with mental health (I currently receive two forms of therapy this way and most therapists in this town are continuing on video, tele-practicing).

Drop-in centers with chairs safely apart where people could go for free talk support with volunteer therapists.

Public art collaborations where, again with safe social distancing, people can one at a time take a timed turn to add to a big art piece.

Much more availability of time with animals. Gentle farm and domestic animals who like people brought into public spaces (the way therapy dogs wander airports).

More free community gardens (rows 6-8' apart) set up with tilled ground, hoses, and seeds. Free advice and teaching. (More nature contact.)

There are so many things that are healing about both being in nature and about calming and helping each other.

It's the only way for society to get better and maybe it'll have to come from the bottom up.

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

Thoughtful questions, CB.

One thing that occurred to me reading your musings about masks is that the paradox is that masks, just because of how they work, are only about 10% about protecting yourself from infection, and about 90% about protecting other people you encounter. Vulnerable people.

People who seem most upset about masks seem to be promoting bravado, as though only "chickens" wear masks. And there's a callousness abroad that was either better hidden or a lot less widespread when I was young.

A subconscious thing I think might be affecting people, is that the wearing of masks in public disrupts how we'd like to present ourselves as individuals. Expressions, makeup, both are interrupted. Our own trusted faces we see in the mirror are 2/3 hidden with them on, even from ourselves. We're ordinary and commonplace in new ways in masks, all wearing the same rectangular thing over our faces. So one way to claim your individuality is with defiance and your naked face, despite the danger. Wearing masks, even if some are "stylish" and others stapled paper towels with rubber bands....advertises our COMMON vulnerability. That's exactly what "global pandemic" and "no human immunity to it" mean. We lose our precious illusion that we stand alone and that BELIEF is all that strengthens us. Or maybe too many have come to conclude that it's hatred, tribalism and exclusion that should strengthen us instead.

It's not. Belief may, but reality-based behavior does more, I think.

Anti-intellectual hostility to science and expertise is such a dangerous development. It's as though a huge portion of our population has a virus itself. Of preferring belief over fact, swagger over knowledge, charisma over nerdiness, etc. I've believed for a long time that our culture is itself mentally ill. It's also been amazing and creative and good. But it's had morbidities of mental disease and moral injury that have been disrespected and have gone untreated for a long time. Genocide, racism, anti-semitism, sexism, nationalism, homophobia, militarism. Fortunately there are also things like pacifism, humanism, altruism, activism, justice and concepts like that. If those don't prevail, then authoritarianism and facism just might win. There have always been many links between facists/dictators and their suppression of knowledge (media, education) and science, applied judiciously to increase power.

This pandemic is a great leveler. Love and humility might save us, hatred and arrogance sure won't. Sometimes I imagine what humanity COULD do, together. It would be incredible.

thanks for the thoughts, Doc G and CB,
Hops

[sKePTiKal]

Here's a tangentially relevant article that makes a point worth thinking about. It's discussing social science phenomena surrounding belief, prophecy, and cult mentalities. After reading it, I'm pondering - simply because the confirmation bias spoken of here, affects everyone and before I opine, I'd like to challenge my own assumptions first.

Consider this a devil's advocate point of view - and I for one, don't just accept his theory as "fact" - but am willing to consider and observe for myself and think about this.

https://www.hughwillbourn.com/post/cc-no-2-covid-brexit-and-flying-saucers

[Hopalong]

Thanks, Amber. I read it and also followed one of the links to Regnery, which stopped me in my tracks. That's a right-wing publishing house that's way too far out of my bubble. Believe it or not, at one point out of desperation, I ghost-edited an awful novel that blamed the AIDS epidemic on a political conspiracy, for a wacko man I met through a friend. He wound up spouting the theory on the TODAY show.

I think the primary article raises questions I'd like to ponder though. My father was an environmental scientist (geographer with a focus on political/economic geography) and deniers tend to focus on narrow slices of data in terms of time. I'll never be able to grasp it all, so again, am brought back around to trusting in the sciences and those who appear to be qualified and experienced enough to interpret them responsibly for citizens.

One major point for me regarding his rebuttal of various "beliefs" is that he is a sole author with a blog. Since the vast majority of reputable scientists around the world agree unequivocally about the urgent threat of climate change, though I appreciate the thinking his article stimulates, I can't jettison my trust in those who conclude that melting snowcaps and glaciers and unprecedented climate events (again, over a meaningful time span) are truthfully indicating deep peril for coming human generations if we don't attack it fast. Or, we can just not care and figure all resources are ours to dominate rather than steward, and "necessary" materialism and pollution means famines and resource wars are just for a NIMBY state of mind.

I think all the stuff I fixate about is linked: our immoral treatment of the most vulnerable, kids in cages, the elderly, unprecedented species loss, mindless development, climate injustice (racial/economic health disparities, food deserts), on and on. All of it adds up to the "side" I fall on. But it's still important that I listen respectfully to other points of view and love people who think differently than I do.

Thanks for the thinking!
Hugs
Hops

[sKePTiKal]

I believe that's a personal webpage; and his name Hugh Willbourn is at the top of the article.

He's talking about group behaviors. I'm just saying it's worth thinking about, in these days when there seems to be so much persuasion to believe the same as a large group of people do; and social punishment (a la "shunning" and ostracization) if you do NOT follow along with those beliefs.

Society, in general, used to be a lot more "Live & Let Live" and "Different strokes for different folks" and we appreciated the differences... but now, it feels very much that social "approval" - based on a set of ideas - is much more interested in persuading people to "pick sides" and choose a set of beliefs without really THINKING about if they agree with them or not. Much less WHY they agree and whether/what those beliefs are based on are valid, or valuable.

I do appreciate that we can discuss these types of things here - and HEAR each other. People believing different things than I do are not a threat to me. Collective brain power always comes up with deep insights that one person thinking alone.

The same thing is happening with how people are relating to the virus. It's certainly not helping that there is disagreement  among the "experts" over the basic information about it. Infectiousness seems fairly settled; most people agree it's highly infectious. But there - much of the information we see/hear about it diverges more into "belief" that actual data.  Few people realize that we're too early in investigating the new virus - that we just don't have that much "hard, reproducible" data yet.

I'm just so sick & tired of everything in life being reduced to this "us & them" duality of "beliefs". And then the hostilities & conflicts & flat out abuse of others because they believe differently.

pS - I really appreciate the distinction you drew between "dominate" and "stewardship" Hops. It's that kind of subtlety that gets lost outside of real discussion and conversation, sadly. And I happen to be - along with all the other things I am which may not be welcome in that bigger bubble - a big believer in the value of stewardship.

[Hopalong]

Hear, hear.

It's people like you, even though we sometimes have different angles or takes on various things, who give me hope about the big Us/Them getting softened in time.

I sure as heck hope so.

And I see you as a steward, too.

So glad to be here...and back to Doc G's point -- please know, good doc, that for a tiny tribe of Amazons, I think this forum is a HUGE factor in maintaining mental health (or at least mitigating the occasional slide).

Thank you, thank you.

Hops

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Thanks, Tupp, Amber, Hops and CB for your thoughts and comments!  As I’ve written, there is an “epidemic” of loneliness/aloneness in the world, and the coronavirus pandemic has added dramatically to these feelings.  I have always hoped that this message board would provide some relief from this omnipresent sense of aloneness, especially in extraordinary times like these.  In a sense, each of you has become a therapist to others here, and I so appreciate the important role you have played in other members’ lives for all these years.

Virtual hugs—and thanks—to all of you,

Richard