Secondary Pandemic Post-Covid: the Mental Health Fallout

 We will start this June blog post by stating what we hope you will receive from it: knowledge and awareness.  The purpose of this post is not to scare you.  It is to draw your attention to a potential crisis that you, friends, or loved ones may be experiencing.  Also know that this can be overcome.

Even though many states in the US are reopening public spaces to one degree or another, there is a potential new pandemic on the horizon: a mental health crisis.  

Since the beginning of quarantining actions psychology experts have been concerned about a nation-wide collective state of trauma.  Unlike normal stress symptoms which typically vanish once the stressor is removed, traumatic stress can persist well after the original stressor is gone.  

The Pandemic Has Been Traumatic

As outlined in our April post “Common but Often Unknown Symptoms of Quarantine Stress and Trauma” many, many people are experiencing traumatic stress symptoms in response to the pandemic due to a variety of reasons such as:

1)    Job loss

2)    Financial burdens

3)    Greater isolation

4)    Anxiety for themselves and loves ones

These are factors that have been previously linked to poor mental health outcomes and that are becoming more prevalent during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Polling data from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that more than 50% of those who have lost income or their employment reported experiencing an increase in negative mental health impacts due to stress and worry about Covid-19.

So What Might This Look Like?

 Our brains are naturally clever, and they do everything they can to protect us and get us through.  Unfortunately, they are not naturally well-educated on effective coping strategies.  As a result our brains will come up with solutions that “work,” more or less, but are not always necessarily the best idea.  This is particularly true when we experience a new stressor that we have not encountered before.  The CDC has an increase in the following response types due to Covid-19.  We briefly highlight the “why” of each: 

1)    Uncontrollable or persistent worry about your own health, health of loves ones, financial situation, loss of support services

 Why?

Your brain focuses on challenges that need to be resolved.  When it cannot identify a resolution it may review the challenge over, and over, and over again hoping to finally hit on something.  Sort of like opening the refrigerator, looking for a snack, closing it, and then opening it again as if hoping a chocolate pudding will have somehow appeared.

2)    Insomnia/Hypersomnia or Undereating/Overeating

 Why?

 Your brain is spinning its wheels trying to help you cope.  Insomnia and undereating are primarily hormonal in response.  Anxiety chemicals are racing around your system which communicates the need to be ready and alert.  Sleeping is not ready nor alert.  

 Digestion also takes away energy.  In a danger situation your body actually stops digesting until the danger has past.  Because anxiety is the anticipation of danger, your brain suppresses appetite so it does not have to divert power later.

 Oversleeping and overeating are also a chemical response but they are, in effect, a comfort rather than danger-response.  Because we do not stress when we are asleep—stress dreams aside—sleeping is a convenient way to avoid stress.  As far as our brains are concerned, of course.  In actuality it causes its own set of problems. 

Similarly with overeating.  Food activates the pleasure centers of our brains (fun fact: cheese triggers the same part of our brains as many drugs) and so activating those centers provides a temporary “good” feeling.

3)    Difficulty concentrating

 Why?

This is a very common response to stressors of all kinds.  Simply put, your brain has decided it has bigger things to think about than what to make for dinner, or focusing on this TV show/book, or this work assignment.  The inability to identify a solution folds into that persistent worry identified above.

4)    Worsening of chronic health problems

 Why?

Short term stress is for the most part harmless.  Sometimes it can even increase performance such as on an exam.  Long term stress, however, does a number on even a healthy body.  Chronic health problems can be exacerbated simply by stress but also by the negative effects of the prolonged isolation, unhealthy coping mechanisms (such as under sleeping or over eating), and also lack of access to the needed care.

5)    Worsening of chronic mental health issues

Why?

Even those who have been successfully managing their mental health conditions for years are having a difficult time right now.  Anxiety, depression and even trauma abounds. This is because this situation is new.  Your brain does not know what to do here because it never has before, and pandemics are certainly not on the standard list of situations your therapist teaches you how to handle.

 Even if you have been managing your mental health without support for years if you feel like you are struggling at all reach out to a mental health professional.  This situation may be new to us, too, but trust that we have the skills to help you through.

6)    Increased substance use

 Why?

 Even for casual users, increases in tobacco, alcohol, and other substances can be expected during isolation.  They activate the same centers of our brain as cheese (see what we did there?).  Meaning they bring comfort.  You may be an occasional or social user of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, etc.  You may also notice you are using these substances more.  

Because this pandemic is a new situation to all of us your brain, in its quest to take care of you, is saying “That glass of wine was always nice.  That worked.  Let’s do that.”  Even for a casual or unproblematic user one can see how this can quickly become a problem.

If you would like to speak to any of us here at Obsidian Counseling about helping you with symptoms like this please call us at (224) 255-4411 or email us at obsidiancounseling@gmail.com.

 

Other Resources About Mental Health in the Pandemic:

The New England Journal of Medicine

WebMD

The Atlantic

The World Health Organization

 JAMA Network

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Quarantine Fatigue: the Effect of Prolonged Stress and Uncertainty

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Staying Sane When the View Never Changes: Handling Family Life During Quarantine