How not to make yourself crazy
COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis. The disease and what is required to prevent it, has the potential of creating great stress. We have been given measures such as washing hands, sanitizing, wearing masks, social distancing. And to further protect us, we are under curfew. Movements restricted. In some counties, no travel in and out of the county allowed. These are measures that protect us from physically contracting the disease. What about mentally? As some have said before, the last time there was anything even remotely similar to this was the aftermath of the 1982 coup. A period of time where majority of the population were either not born, or were too young to remember. How do we make sense of all this? A disease that has never occurred before anywhere in the world? Measures that go against the togetherness and closeness that represents our culture? How do we prevent ourselves from going crazy? When I was asked to write something on mental health in relation to COVID-19, I felt paralyzed. I was still trying to wrap my head around curfews and social distancing. Still trying to figure out what I was feeling. Adjusting to working from home, which, by the way, is not as simple as it sounds when the only virtual learning you ever engaged in was sending assignments and notes to group emails. And don’t get me started on online meetings. I must admit; as a psychologist and a human being going through the same thing as everyone else, I don’t have the answers. There is no blueprint to deal with novelty. Certainly, just as the doctors and medical professionals are still studying the disease, mental health professionals are also tasked with studying how the mind handles this kind of event and then what to do to protect your mind and come out of it in some semblance of a whole piece. What I can offer is a hodgepodge of how to deal with adjustment, anxiety, uncertainty…in other words, how do we deal with change and how do we avoid fear from taking over
By Catherine M. Ngarachu,
MA HOD Psychology,
Outspan Medical College