COVID-19/Information and Mental Overload
Dealing with change takes effort. That effort could be expressed through practical activity, working with (or against) the change. All activity is a choice.
But a response to the COVID-19 pandemic is not a choice, and our individual response may not be worked out through activity. Our personal mind-whirling could lead to a spin out of control. For me, I had to put the brakes on the amount of information I tried to absorb. I needed to change focus and live in the moment. I felt overwhelmed and have limited my daily intake of news, and have looked to my hobbies and other activities like gardening to improve the quality of my daily life.
Although I am not a health professional, I am well aware of mental health issues, and notice that even the media is now engaging with psychologists and others to promote awareness of mental health survival during the current crisis. This article, prompted by my own need to adapt, briefly mentions some of these other mental health issues.
Information Overload
News Items
At first I was curious, I wanted to know what the problem in China was about. So I created a filter on my news reader for media articles related to Wuhan, Hubei, coronavirus and COVID-19 to collect content which I could read and become better informed. When Australia and my local communities began to be affected the news was no longer 'out there', it was here too. Social media posts, daily news on television, additional programs to debate issues or bring us up to date - it has become a media frenzy and anyone with any level of consciousness would empathise with the tragedy unfolding as it moved from China to Italy and Iran, Spain and everywhere else. My home is outside the city so self-isolation, whilst not necessary, is easy. But it has a surreal quality to it. Life is normal here but it is in turmoil everywhere else. Emotionally I have moved from interest to concern and some anxiety to a sense of unreality and mild shock as the nation shuts down. In another reality-check, as an aging baby boomer I am one of the vulnerable and need to be careful. So we limit our trips into the real world. Our doctor can use telehealth; our supermarket has resumed home deliveries to the elderly; other shopping and services can be accessed online. But all the while my news reader has been collecting content and now has over 30,000 articles. It grows just while I look at it. I must have some sort of mild addiction to news, but I have reached a decision - I am going to turn it off.
I only have to deal with what affects me and my extended family. I only have to comply with the health directives in our community. I cannot hear all the bells toll in Italy; and don't have to queue outside a Centrelink office; I don't want to feel fatigued or emotionally drained. So self-isolation for me means to disconnect from the mental and emotional toll. To live in the moment; to enjoy the present with my family; resume a hobby like music; and limit my exposure to the media. I will stay informed, but self-protected from overload.
Other Mental Health Issues
Our Media is now doing interviews with psychologists and others involved in, and willing to comment on, the mental health aspect of dealing with the pandemic.
I think that stocking up food and essential items was a predictable response to the likelihood that people would need to be at home, and a reasonable fear that future supplies would not be available. After all, every apocalyptic novel and film depicts shortages, people having to fend for themselves, and a breakdown of social structures, law and order etc. It most likely will not become like that. But here are some of the emotions which have been apparent:
- panic: people reacted with panic when the 'China virus' reached us, the COVID-19 pandemic became real and a local problem; panic buying was described as unnecessary as there was enough food (and toilet paper) to go round, but the reaction is the same in every country - tinned food, toilet paper, flour, etc., all purchased in abnormal quantities
- anxiety: again, a reasonable feeling because we have older family and friends who are deemed vulnerable; children who we don't want to get sick; ourselves because we want to be there for our kids and partner; the affect on the economy, job losses, businesses unable to trade; and a consequent affect on home finances.
- stress: we've seen this displayed occasionally as violence in supermarkets as people battle for the last items; but more dangerous is the unseen affect on small-business owners and their ability to cope with stress; the stress experienced by workers who have been stood down or lost their jobs; a fear of the future; frustration with government - it all leads to stress.
- loneliness: it is unusual for people not to socialise. For those in mandatory self-isolation it can be particularly difficult to adapt to the actual isolation. Even for the rest of us, social-distancing deprives us of contact, personal isolation means less contact with friends and family - and phone calls just don't have the same affect as sharing a beer or a cup of coffee; and our elderly folk in aged care are not getting visitors, do not have familiar groups coming in to entertain, conduct church services, or arrange outings. It must be hard.
- change: the rate of change has been rapid. Adapting to the increasing restrictions, government decisions at federal, state and local levels, and changes to local businesses and services, has a mental affect. I studied change-management and was fascinated by the different ways that people react to, or respond to, change. Some people react harshly, get stressed, try to resist change and would reverse it if they could. Others embrace change and adapt easily, wanting to make the best of it and progress forward. But the affect of the pandemic on our society is more like a revolution than a change. As people wake up to the magnitude of what is going to happen to our future way of life and business it will come as a shock.
- grief: we know to expect feelings of grief when someone dies. In some countries many people are already confronted with tremendous loss of life and a level of personal and community grief not unlike a natural disaster like an earthquake, tsunami or volcanic eruption. But grief can be experienced through many kinds of loss - the loss of a way of life, the loss of a business, loss of a job, cancellation of a family event like a wedding or a significant birthday celebration.
- all of the above: many people will experience some, or maybe all of the above emotions. Those who cannot cope may seek to find a way out.
I am not a health professional. I have just observed these things around me. A small business unable to pay its creditors because its own debtors have not paid them, for the reason that their debtors are unwilling or unable to pay... A relative whose main income is derived through a market which is closed indefinitely. A self-employed tradesman who had jobs booked ahead, but people have cancelled them due either to their own uncertain future or the unwillingness to have other persons at their home. An investor who has a rental property and worries that if the tenants do not pay the rent how will they pay the mortgage. The list goes on. This is the affect on individuals and their families.
There are, or will be, solutions to most of those problems. In the meantime, caring for our own mental health and supporting our family and friends (while keeping our social-distance) is vitally important.
Seek help, deal with problems one step at a time, communicate and stay well!
Update - 1 April 2020
Despite my best advice to myself and others above, I feel different today. There is a road block not far from my home now, staffed by Police. Our State of Western Australia has traditionally been divided into geographic regions and those regional boundaries are now borders which are controlled to restrict movement. Rationally, I support the idea. It is designed to limit community spread of COVID-19. The goal is valid, the timing right, the method appropriate. It just doesn't 'feel right'. I feel trapped even though I don't need to travel. Of course there are exemptions like going to a doctor.
A couple of months ago the same road was blocked because of fires, and anyone evacuating from our area could leave by a safe route but their return was impossible due to another road block. But at that time there were sirens going, helicopters water bombing, smoke in the air, and the fire was an obvious and visible enemy. However, coronavirus is a silent, unseen enemy. More insidious, more dangerous, and perhaps more scary simply because it is not obvious. So emotionally I have been all over the place. Unfocussed, not capable of any creative activity, wondering how long it will last, realising that I miss regular motorcycle rides with a group of friends, knowing I won't have a cup of coffee at any of my favourite coastal cafes for quite a while... the list could go on. It's just a phase of adapting to another 'new normal'. In a day or two I'll be used to it.
And then something else will change, and the process of adapting will start over again...
