As the COVID-19 virus ravages our economy and health systems, it also exacts a heavy emotional toll through fear, despair, anxiety, depression, and frustration.
Pew Research Center reported, “Health experts are concerned about the potential mental health effects of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, and mental health hotlines report a substantial uptick in calls since the outbreak began.”
The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting cited one distraught Mississippian who said, “I have not been sleeping at night. I lie awake at night for hours and replay numbers, information from the day, budgets, supplies, what if, what if, what if! I find myself, several times a day, having trouble breathing.” She reached out and got help, according to the article.
Others who are seriously impacted may not reach out. It was heart-rending to learn the virus led one dear friend to suicide and another into serious depression.
While many of us will battle to cope with stressful emotions, each of us should intentionally reach out to others to help them cope. “The best medicine can be reaching out to friends and family through telephone and maintaining a sense of connection,” Gulf Coast Mental Health Center Executive Director Stacy G. Miller told the Clarion-Ledger.
“In general, people are experiencing despair, boredom, loneliness, anxiety, and it’s all being intertwined with depression and can be connected to different reasons,” Richard McMullan, clinical director with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health’s Region 8 told the Brookhaven Daily Leader. “It’s a general foreboding that comes along with a situation and it comes with anxiety.”
Warning of the dangers of widespread panic she calls “emotional contagion,” Wharton School professor Sigal Barsade contends, “Emotional contagion, unless we get a hold on it, is going to greatly amplify the damage caused by COVID-19.”
Even though the vast majority of people won’t contract the virus, she said, a much higher percentage will experience emotional contagion. Barsade’s concern comes from her professional research into emotional behavior.
“One of the things we also know from the research literature is that negative emotions, particularly fear and anxiety, cause us to become very rigid in our decision-making. We’re not creative. We’re not as analytical, so we actually make worse decisions.”
During this stressful time, family, friends, and church members can play a more proactive role to head off tragedy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, "Helping others cope with their stress can also make your community stronger.”
What can you do?
The Mississippi Department of Mental Health says taking proactive steps to reach out to friends and family members can help reduce anxiety and loneliness, encouraging people to get “face-to-face” contact through applications like FaceTime or Skype. If that’s not possible, then call them and hear their voice and let them hear yours.
Pastor Beverly Knox in Meridian has been calling everyone on her contact list to check on them and pray for them.
You can also help connect those in need of counseling to licensed professional counselors.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” – Philippians 4:6-7.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Bill Crawford: Help Others Cope With Pandemic Fear and Anxiety
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6 comments:
Emotional contagion? Sounds good to me. But whatever you want to call it, it's on its way if it's not already here. Most of our society today is mentally weak, that is to say they are not mentally tough. They have never had to deal with hardships and sacrifice. They have never had to make the tough decisions. I'm convinced that this is the reason for so much PTSD and suicides these days. To paraphrase Romans 5:3-4: Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance creates character, and character gives us hope.
Good article. (And I'm usually pretty critical of Mr. Crawford)
There is no reason to 'stay home-bound' if you have gas in your car or can buy it. Ride around the Reservoir by yourself. Drive the Trace down to Raymond and back. Don't stop along the way to go inside any place or visit anybody. Just get out of the house. If you're home-bound with another person, take them along.
If you're not in a position to do that, call a friend and say, "Come take me riding".
Good article by Mr. Crawford.
We all need to stay in touch with others. On a few Saturday afternoons, our neighborhood has had "social distancing" tailgate parties, where everyone sets up their tables and chairs at the end of the driveways, stay more than 6 feet away from each other, and visit. We have also had "social distancing" happy hours on Friday evenings, where 2 to 4 couples sit 6 feet away from each other on someone's patio or deck and visit for a few hours. For each gathering, everyone brings their own beverages and food.
My choice. I refuse to live my life in fear of something I know will find me regardless of how hard I try to avoid it. Agree with 8:08 in regards to "Most of our society today is mentally weak, that is to say they are not mentally tough. They have never had to deal with hardships and sacrifice. They have never had to make the tough decisions". I learned the hard way in the late 60's about being mentally tough. I also agree with 8:23, get out and enjoy life, it's a shame to lose some of it the way many have. Again, my choice and opinion. Attack if you feel you need to. 8:08, thanks for the Romans reading. You all please take care.
The real " weakness" is the inability in today's society to entertain oneself and the expectation of " instant gratification" or feel satisfaction from work well done or making things better than they were.
Tend to your house and yard. No excuses for dirty baseboards and grout. You can still get soap and water. You can still pull weeds. You can go through " stuff" and clean out and sort. Even if you are old, you can those sorts of things down into a " doable" small amount each day.
You can learn something new. One friend gets in her car and drives to see historic architecture in her town...some of which she drove by for years without knowing their history.
The phones still work. Call someone.
I do know there are those too ill or too frail and who have been mostly alone for a while since they have no family here. If you know anyone like that, call them. I check on two of my elderly friends in those circumstances each day.
I really have no patience for those of you whining because you can't do your favorite activities or can't get your hair or nails done. If someone likes you only because of how you look and not because you are a good person, worry about that and change it! If you are in groups that judge others on those superficial grounds, you'd best rethink your groups.
No doubt 1:05, a great many of us have become quite vane and shallow.Very few recognize that having fun and being happy aren't the same thing. And quite a few people are so out of touch that they actually think reality television truly is reality and FOMO is one of their greatest motivators.
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