For months now, government and health organizations have been constantly informing us about the preventive measures to be implemented against the advancement of COVID-19. Even now that fortunately the infections are continuing to decline and our life seems to have returned to a pseudo-normality.
What has perhaps not been dwelt enough on are probably the psychological consequences that this period of pandemic and subsequent social isolation may have had or currently have on people. Indeed, factors such as social isolation , home confinement and the burden of general uncertainty can now hit our mental balance hard.
There is also another variable that perhaps has not been given enough attention. In our country, there are thousands of people suffering from depression or anxiety disorders who are now in a situation of potential worsening of their state.
It is therefore essential to offer them help and support strategies, to make them feel accompanied even now that, for all, the danger has escaped. This also with a view to not making them feel alone or “wrong” with respect to the concerns they present.
Scientific studies
The scientific journal The Lancet, not long ago, published a study on the psychological impact of Coronavirus. He related it to other similar situations from the past (albeit not with the same impact). One of them was the quarantine put in place in various areas of China following the 2003 SARS epidemic .
In that situation, the population was forced to remain in quarantine for ten days, a period that served the local psychologists to analyze the effect of this kind of emergency.
Thanks to the data collected, observation and comparison of what occurred during isolation and what we are experiencing now, it was possible to recognize the main psychological consequences of the Coronavirus and analyze them in people.
The effects of the quarantine
To begin with, we know well that one of the measures that governments have implemented to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and to overcome the disease (when the symptoms are mild), is that of quarantine. This implies total isolation for a duration of at least 15 days.
The researchers who completed the study concluded that after ten days of total isolation, the mind begins to give way. From the eleventh day , stress , nervousness , increased anxiety appear . Having had much longer imprisonment in many cases, it is easy to imagine how the effects could have been even more difficult for most of the population to manage.
The obsessive fear of contamination
Going instead more specifically to the clinic, one of the most evident psychological consequences of COVID-19 is still for many people the fear of being infected or of being able to infect others without knowing it.
It is important to emphasize that when an epidemic or pandemic situation expands, the human mind tends to develop irrational fears. It is often not enough that we listen to reliable information sources , nor that we are aware of the simple and necessary security measures. For example, wash your hands, keep the meter away, stay home if you have any fever lines or specific symptoms.
Gradually it is possible to have developed increasingly unfounded fears, such as the irrational fear that the infection may come from the food we eat, or that it may be transmitted by our pets. This may have triggered real obsessive-compulsive symptoms .
The depressive symptoms
In a context where social interaction has been reduced to the limit for weeks or months, where silence reigned in the normally noisy and crowded streets and we were forced to stay indoors, it is obvious how boredom and frustration were present. in our days.
The inability to maintain our lifestyle and our freedom of movement (both physical and mental) has plunged many people into an abyss of complex and problematic emotions. In some cases this may have triggered or unleashed real depressive symptoms .
Other psychopathological symptoms
Again, in the context of the pandemic in which we have found ourselves catapulted (most of us for the first time in our lives) the mind tends to act following a few natural impulses. One consequence of this has been compulsive buying or shopping for some . In an uncertain scenario such as that of the first weeks of emergency, our brain had focused on the priority of not being left without the essential goods for survival.
Again, it did not matter that our supermarkets were always well stocked and that the authorities advised not to raid the shops or that pharmacies were always well stocked. The minds of many of us led us to believe that certain goods could run out and therefore prompted us to stock exaggerated and unmotivated stocks .
Among the most important psychological consequences of this period is also the loss of trust in official sources of information . For many people, in the moment of crisis, the mind has disconnected and has lost confidence. Also aided by the fact that, being COVID-19 a completely unknown virus, as SARS was in its day, the authorities responded on the basis of progress and day-to-day events.
The greatest risk for psychologically vulnerable people
As we said at the beginning, and perhaps this is the consequence that we need to keep more in mind. The most vulnerable population is made up of those people who, even before the onset of the virus, presented more or less important pictures of depression , phobias , generalized anxiety , obsessive-compulsive disorders .
The period of isolation, the media bombardment and the constant restrictions on normal life to which they were accustomed, may without doubt have aggravated their psychological health conditions . They may also have had different types of side effects, for them and also for their family members, cohabitants and acquaintances.
In light of this, it is vitally important that even now that the infections are under control and we tend to let our guard down, they feel supported and that they don’t spend too much time isolated with their own discomforts.
Conclusion
To conclude, there is clearly one factor that unites all of us in this post-pandemic period. It is a dangerous factor, which can negatively impact on the mental health of all of us and especially on that of those who previously suffered from some discomfort or psychological disorder. That is the so-called catastrophic thinking .
It is the tendency to always anticipate the worst, that little voice that whispers to us that we will lose our job, that things will not go back to the way they used to be, that we will end up in the hospital, that someone dear to us will not make it, that the economy will collapse, that there will be no way out of the situation, etc.
Obviously, instead of helping, these thoughts only complicate the reality we are experiencing. They make it more tiring and certainly less pleasant or reassuring.
While therefore continuing to adhere to the rules imposed by the authorities regarding the prevention of the virus , we do not forget to also take care of our psychological health. We try to talk to specialists who can help us better deal with the negative effects of a difficult period for everyone
