The more neglected aspect of this pandemic and the difficulties times we are living it´s mental health. Our lifes have enormously changed, we spend long hours at home, human contact is forbidden, there are curfews, people lose their jobs, kids don't go to school or play. So we are dehumanizing ourselves and it's really sad. Like a friend told me “ Nowadays we are living just for living”. It's like time was freezed and we were trapped in a bubble.
A survey of the “ Mental Health Research Canada” showed an increase of anxiety and depression due to the pandemic. Which is totally understandable. Families are separated, the elderly are isolated,people go through financial crises and the most important , WE ARE NOT FREE. We´ve lost all our freedoms, we are completely controlled by our governments, we are observed and we distrust all. In addition, the medias increase the anxiety and fear of contracting the virus. If you open a newspaper or read the news I'm sure that 50% or more of the information it's about coronavirus. This makes people anxious and scared of contracting the virus or even die.
Frederic Leighton, Solitude , 1890
Although the hope;the more precious and sometimes the worst of the human feelings; of this pandemic ending and life getting back to normal can reconfort some of us , there can be long-term health impacts . According to Steven Taylor, a professor in psychiatry at the University of British Columbia “for an unfortunate minority of people, perhaps 10 to 15%, life will not return to normal”. Also in the UK a group of public mental health specialists expressed in the British Medical Journal : “the mental health impact of the pandemic is likely to last much longer than the physical health impact”. It's known that mental problems remain longer than health problems when natural disasters or tragic events happen. For example a survey showed that some people who went through the Katrina hurricane in 2005 still have PTSD problems or depression. The same happened with Chernobyl, 25 years later first aid responders tend to have a high rate on depression and PTSD. This feeling of uncertainty and constant fear can affect even more people who already had mental problems like OCD or depression, the concern of going outside and getting Covid and the social isolation, can increase the isolation and trigger those suffering from these conditions.
According to the BBC,teachers all along the USA agree that a lot of students will have PTSD even after the covid goes away. That's because they are used to interaction, to see their friends, play sports,and have lunch together. Yet , now they study alone in their bedrooms, haven't seen their friends for a long time so they barely have human interactions.
Sadly teenagers like Dylan Buckner or Trevor Hill committed suicide due to their depression caused by the lockdown .In Japan the suicide has remarkably increased at the coronavirus second wave . This country is known for their high suicide rate ( the Aokigahara forest ist famous for being the place where many people took their own lives) and statistics show the women´s suicide higher than ever .In India the news suicide reports have increased 67,7% ( these based in date from 24 March to 3 May 2020 in comparison of the same dates of 2019).
We are reduced to simple numbers. The numbers of death or infected, the number of suicides, the number of people who get the vaccine,etc. I don't mean to be pessimistic, on the contrary this is a call to get back our human side. The one who has been long forgotten. This pandemic made us appreciate life more than ever. Happiness is in us , not in material or superficial things. We don´t miss going shopping but being with our families, walking by the beach, literally being free. I hope from the bottom of my heart that everything will go better really soon and this pandemic helps us to reflect about the importance of our freedom, happiness and choosing good politicians.
