Is Anyone Dealing with the Mental Health Issues Quarantine Brings?
The onslaught of negative thoughts and tight, heavy feelings in her chest never take Gabrielle by surprise. The 24-year-old publicist has dealt with generalized anxiety disorder for as long as she can remember, which means that even on good days, a full-blown panic attack is possible.
Three years ago, Gabrielle moved to New York City and started working with a cognitive behavioral therapist to learn techniques to help ease her symptoms—skills like breaking down her catastrophic thinking and finding evidence that life wasn’t likely to play out the way she was imagining. “Then, COVID-19 happened, and I started living in lockdown,” Gabrielle says. “Now all of my worst-case scenarios—like will I be able to see my parents before they die, or will I lose my job and not be able to pay rent—are realistic outcomes. These last few weeks have definitely set me back.”
It’s understandable, considering the impact the novel coronavirus has had on all of us. An estimated 1.5 billion people around the world have been either asked or mandated to practice social distancing, and the resulting disruptions to life as we know it—how we work, travel, and connect with each other—have been cited as a catalyst for a rise in mental health disorders. According to one data and analytics company, sales of drugs for psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are expected to reach more than $27 billion this year, an increase of more than $700 million from the previous year. A new poll by the American Psychiatric Association found that 36 percent of Americans say the novel coronavirus pandemic is having a serious impact on their mental health.
It’s no wonder so many of us are struggling; the impacts of isolation have been studied in a variety of different people (think astronauts, inmates, immunocompromised kids, and the elderly), and the outcomes aren’t good. Research has found that loneliness and social isolation can be as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, boosting risk of coronary heart disease by 29 percent and of stroke by 32 percent. Other studies have found that loneliness increased the rate of early death by 26 percent, and living alone led to an increased rate of mortality by 32 percent.
But the stress and social isolation the COVID-19 pandemic has created is especially concerning for the one in five adults in America who experience mental illness, says David M. Benedek, MD, professor of psychiatry and chairman of the Uniformed Services University’s Department of Psychiatry. “Those who depend on intensive outpatient programs or frequent hospitalizations are at particular risk, because those programs are necessarily suspended in many places,” he says.
Add to that the ambiguity about when life will return to “normal,” and it’s easy to see how someone with an underlying mental health condition might go to a dark place. “When you’re struggling with your mental health, hope for recovery is essential—it’s a beacon of light in an otherwise uncertain world,” Matt Kudish, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in New York City, says. “We don’t have any idea how profoundly and for how long we’ll be affected by this virus, which makes this time particularly trying.”
This widespread uncertainty has prompted Marta Sandoval’s panic attacks to resurface. During the 2008 recession, Marta lost her job working for a state senator and was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder soon after. The 39-year-old from Yonkers, New York, learned to keep her condition under control thanks to a therapist who taught her grounding exercises and helped bring her attention to the present moment.
Now, however, her panic attacks are back, and the strategies that used to work aren’t cutting it anymore. Marta’s husband is a police officer in the Bronx whose partner was just diagnosed with COVID-19, so she assumes it’s only a matter of time before she and her husband will be diagnosed also. Although her parents live just 20 minutes away—they’re 68 and 79, and have underlying health conditions—she isn’t able to help take care of them because of her potential exposure. “As soon as I feel the intense pressure in my chest and the panic hits, remembering the present moment isn’t helpful anymore,” Marta says. “The present moment is scary.”
Gabrielle can relate and is working with her therapist via Zoom to find new coping methods that might be more effective during this time of global uncertainty. She’s also noticing a silver lining in the forced isolation. “I’m finding myself filled with relief when I look at the week ahead on my calendar and it’s not jam-packed with plans,” she says. “I’m realizing how much anxiety that used to cause.”
No matter the state of your mental health or how frequently it changes by the day (or, let’s be honest, the hour), there are some strategies that can help us all cope.
Remember, social distancing means physical distance—not social isolation. When you’re suffering from a mental health condition, social distancing can quickly turn into social disconnectedness. But that doesn’t have to be the case, says Leah D’Abate, a licensed professional counselor and somatic psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado. “Yes, we need to create physical space from each other right now, but we have an opportunity to get closer to others and ourselves,” she says. “We just need to get creative.” FaceTime a friend while you both eat dinner; volunteer to help a niece or nephew learn to read over daily, 10-minute Zoom calls; you could even watch a show or movie with a friend over video chat.
“The physical distance we have to maintain from one another can be mitigated by using technology to maintain our social connectedness,” Benedek adds. “That’s what makes this a very different scenario from the kind of solitary confinement some astronauts or inmates go through.”
Reach out to just one person. All the talk about virtual happy hours on Zoom and churches services on Google Hangouts can be tough for those who don’t have a big circle of friends or community support systems already in place. But you don’t need 10 friends to connect with right now; you just need one or two who you can have regular contact with during this time, says Kudish. If you don’t have anyone to lean on right now, consider taking advantage of the professional help that’s available virtually—much of which you can try for free currently.
To find a psychiatrist or therapist, call your primary care physician for a reference, ask a friend or two if they see someone they really like, or refer to Psychology Today’s mental health practitioner database. Most therapists are offering sessions online, and many insurance companies have even changed their policies to reimburse telemedicine at the same rate as in-person visits, Benedek says.
Kudish adds that at NAMI, support groups once held in person are now happening via telephone or Zoom, and are free and open to anyone.
Accept the invitation for transformation this time is offering. D’Abate says that one of the reasons so many of us are having a tough time is because so many of our go-to distractions have been stripped from us and we’re being asked to go inward—both literally and figuratively.
“Anything that involves restriction tends to bring us into deep relationship with ourselves, our bodies, our aloneness, and our defenses,” she says. “If this sounds uncomfortable, it’s because it is.” Which is why you might find yourself drinking more than usual or bingeing on too much Netflix. There’s a place for these vices—especially now, when so many of our other “escapes” aren’t available to us. But it’s also important to realize that these coping mechanisms might take the edge off at first, but make you feel worse in the long run, Kudish adds. (Alcohol is a depressant and dampens your immune response; research links watching too much TV to an increase in depression.)
It’s not that you need to give up all your go-tos for numbing or distracting yourself right now, D’Abate says. “But can you take just five minutes today to really feel what you’re feeling, and then divert your attention from those sad, cringeworthy emotions?” Just as you’re about to pour yourself that glass of wine, reach for the TV remote, open Instagram on your phone, or whatever it is you do to escape, set an alarm for five minutes and just sit in silence and breathe, lie on the floor and sob, or scream into a pillow. Most importantly, try not to judge whatever comes up for you as good or bad.
“I believe depression and anxiety are the result of not being able to feel your feelings over time,” D’Abate says. “If you start to learn how to do that, you might notice your symptoms get better.”
Ask yourself what would make you a little happier—and do that thing for someone else. When you feel down, isolated, or even just a little off, it can be tempting to wait for others to reach out to you. Yet the antidote is generosity and selflessness, says Heather Pennell, cofounder of Rising Woman, an education platform that aims to help people navigate personal and relationship challenges. “Sit quietly and ask yourself, ‘What is it that I want right now? What is it that I’m looking for?’” she says.
Are you wishing someone would call you? Do you need to laugh? Once you’ve got your answer, figure out a way to show up for someone else in your life in that way. “We’re all so similar in our needs and desires, so odds are if you’re yearning for something, someone else is too,” Pennell says.
Can you call someone to tell her how much she means to you? Or send a small gift or card in the mail? Be open to whatever comes to you, she adds, and give with true generosity—which means no expectations of getting anything in return. “When we give like this, it’ll inherently make you feel better. Plus, the generosity becomes reciprocal.”
Look for the upsides, even if they’re fleeting. When Kudish goes running around his Montclair, New Jersey, neighborhood lately, he’s noticing that his neighbors are engaging with him in a different way. Sure, there are the face masks and maneuvers to ensure everyone maintains a six-foot distance from each other. But there’s also a sense of solidarity.
“It’s like we’re all looking at each other thinking, ‘Whoa, this is really happening. We’re living in the middle of a global pandemic,’” he says. “And there’s something shared in that, whether you’re alone, with your family, feeling okay, or really struggling. We are all going through this together. And that shared experience can help us see something else we all share as human beings: resilience.
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