3 ms·

Psychiatrists warn of lockdown's toll on mental health

21 points by mrfusion 6y ago

hilbert42 6y ago
Very little can be said about COVID-19 that's good but one aspect of it has been very good for me in that the lockdown has been a boon. Lockdown for me has meant that all the inconveniences of having to deal with people one would prefer not to see or have to deal with as well as having to keep up all the pretence of social 'niceties' - such as having to go to social functions, etc. out of form because that's the expected thing for me to do - all disappeared in one fell swoop. It was wonderful. To put it bluntly, the isolation was marvellous and I'm not looking foreword to returning to normal one little bit after COVID-19 has gone. Moreover, I know I'm not alone in holding this view. After equating out necessary and practical inconveniences of not having ready access to certain things due to lockdown, almost everyone who I know had positive things to say about the forced isolation. Only in the last few days I've had two separate phone calls from longstanding friends who've I've not had any contact since February and they both agreed with my sentiments completely. The same goes for others who I have had more recent contact. This raises what's clearly become a serious issue. Why is it that some people are so troubled by isolation that it's sending them crazy even to the extent of suicide whereas people like me have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever - to the extent that we'll miss it when it's gone? What is it about the character and lifestyle of some people that leaves them content with their own company or that of their immediate family whereas others behave like caged wild animals who must seek the company of many others at any cost? (I witnessed instances of such behavior earlier year and it put others at risk of catching COVID-19. The fact that the craving of these people to break loose and seek the company of others is so strong that they have complete disregard for the safety of others is, in my opinion, a serious problem. Thus, for the safety of others, we need proper management policies in place well before any future pandemic arrives.) Moreover, why is it that resilience to life's knocks is so horribly low in modern society when say compared to the people of my parents' generation (those of the depression and WWII era)? I'd note that I'm far from being the first person to notice this trend. It seems to me the reason may be that in modern society many have never experienced ongoing hardship from a young age and thus have never deveoped any resilience, and or that these days they have much higher expectations and sense of entitlement than was once the norm. This problem didn't just happen with COVID-19, I noticed this lack of resilience in people with respect to other issues well before the pandemic arrived. It seems to me that even after COVID-19, society will need to do a great deal of soul searching in respect of these matters.
- strikelaserclaw 6y ago
  I want to preface this with saying that, there are a significant amount of people who believe COVID-19 is not a real threat in a statistical sense to humanity. If this virus killed anyone it touched, people would behave differently. With that underlying context, i have this to say. Most people are social creatures, they would probably find it easier (psychologically) to survive poverty, and war over isolation from others for a long period of time. I'm damn sure a large portion of even your parents generation would also not follow lock down protocols if it meant isolating from everyone. Add to that, the fact that the modern world is profoundly isolating (lack of community, always moving for better opportunity) , and a lot of people have very little support systems (monetarily or psychologically), and you take away their means of making money (a lot of people are very scared because they can't make their ends meet) and escaping from life (bars, theaters, meeting friends), you can understand why they suffer.

21 points by mrfusion 6y ago

Very little can be said about COVID-19 that's good but one aspect of it has been very good for me in that the lockdown has been a boon. Lockdown for me has meant that all the inconveniences of having to deal with people one would prefer not to see or have to deal with as well as having to keep up all the pretence of social 'niceties' - such as having to go to social functions, etc. out of form because that's the expected thing for me to do - all disappeared in one fell swoop. It was wonderful. To put it bluntly, the isolation was marvellous and I'm not looking foreword to returning to normal one little bit after COVID-19 has gone. Moreover, I know I'm not alone in holding this view. After equating out necessary and practical inconveniences of not having ready access to certain things due to lockdown, almost everyone who I know had positive things to say about the forced isolation. Only in the last few days I've had two separate phone calls from longstanding friends who've I've not had any contact since February and they both agreed with my sentiments completely. The same goes for others who I have had more recent contact. This raises what's clearly become a serious issue. Why is it that some people are so troubled by isolation that it's sending them crazy even to the extent of suicide whereas people like me have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever - to the extent that we'll miss it when it's gone? What is it about the character and lifestyle of some people that leaves them content with their own company or that of their immediate family whereas others behave like caged wild animals who must seek the company of many others at any cost? (I witnessed instances of such behavior earlier year and it put others at risk of catching COVID-19. The fact that the craving of these people to break loose and seek the company of others is so strong that they have complete disregard for the safety of others is, in my opinion, a serious problem. Thus, for the safety of others, we need proper management policies in place well before any future pandemic arrives.) Moreover, why is it that resilience to life's knocks is so horribly low in modern society when say compared to the people of my parents' generation (those of the depression and WWII era)? I'd note that I'm far from being the first person to notice this trend. It seems to me the reason may be that in modern society many have never experienced ongoing hardship from a young age and thus have never deveoped any resilience, and or that these days they have much higher expectations and sense of entitlement than was once the norm. This problem didn't just happen with COVID-19, I noticed this lack of resilience in people with respect to other issues well before the pandemic arrived. It seems to me that even after COVID-19, society will need to do a great deal of soul searching in respect of these matters.

strikelaserclaw 6y ago
I want to preface this with saying that, there are a significant amount of people who believe COVID-19 is not a real threat in a statistical sense to humanity. If this virus killed anyone it touched, people would behave differently. With that underlying context, i have this to say. Most people are social creatures, they would probably find it easier (psychologically) to survive poverty, and war over isolation from others for a long period of time. I'm damn sure a large portion of even your parents generation would also not follow lock down protocols if it meant isolating from everyone. Add to that, the fact that the modern world is profoundly isolating (lack of community, always moving for better opportunity) , and a lot of people have very little support systems (monetarily or psychologically), and you take away their means of making money (a lot of people are very scared because they can't make their ends meet) and escaping from life (bars, theaters, meeting friends), you can understand why they suffer.