Dorwin Falls in Rawdon, Québec. Enjoy nature, but don't stand too close to anyone else. Photo: James Morgan
Aug 09, 2020 —
The ongoing pandemic has made some aspects of day-to-day living more complicated.
We wait in line to get inside the butcher shop because only one customer is allowed inside at a time. Meticulous hand sanitization follows filling the tank and paying with plastic at a self-serve gas pump. The local supermarket won’t take empty bottles back unless they’re in a box, so the employees don’t have to touch them.
They are small things, but the adjustments add up, and the smallest thing can set off anyone with a short fuse. Just the other day, I saw a man lose it at the supermarket when the employee doing hand and cart sanitizing duty at the entrance politely told him that the debit card system was down and he would have to pay by cash or credit card.
Add hot summer weather and negative stories about politics and race to the myriad of pandemic precautions, and the results can be dreadful for mental health.
Many people are in various states of frustration, anxiety, acceptance, or denial about the situation, and that has sometimes led to outbursts of behavior not normally tolerated in public.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Suzanne Filion of Hawkesbury, Ontario said that people are experiencing a combination of fatigue, grief, accumulated stress, and feeling detached from their loved ones. She explained that irritability is a result of many things. She called it “the tip of the iceberg."
Some people resist mandatory mask wearing and other public health regulations intended to curtail the spread of COVID-19, but Filion said most people are following the rules and are keeping their emotions under control.
“Most people are very patient; most people are wearing the mask,” Filion said. However, she said that some people are interpreting the rules and regulations as though they are being told what to do rather than seeing them as a way of contributing to the greater good.
“These are very common reactions to so many different issues,” said Filion.
Maintaining good mental health is important during this ongoing pandemic. Filion recommended connecting with nature or finding artistic activities such as music or painting to enjoy. She said that it is also important to socialize as much as safely possible.
Nature itself has remained mercifully constant throughout all of this. That said, how we enjoy nature has changed too. At the beautiful, roaring Dorwin Falls in Rawdon Québec, the by now familiar arrows and footprint symbols instruct tourists to keep six feet/two meters apart on the viewing platform. And, campers at provincial parks in Ontario do not have the amenity of shower facilities this season. The sweat and grime of a long hike has to be washed off in the lake or a washtub full of water at the campsite.
In places where COVID-19 has hit hard, there are risks to the physical and mental health of health care workers and other staff. Filion was among the Hawkesbury hospital staff assisting at the Pinecrest Nursing Home in the nearby village of Plantagenet where an outbreak of COVID-19 in May resulted in the death of 11 residents. Filion consulted with hospital employees and local paramedics throughout the pandemic to ensure they stay mentally healthy. “We were trying to prevent trauma,” she said.
Filion says that the hospital is preparing for a possible second wave of COVID-19 and continues to offer support to long-term care facilities and retirement homes. She urged people who are feeling negative effects of the pandemic on their mental health to seek help.
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August 09, 2020 at 06:42PM
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Small things can add up to serious mental health woes in pandemic - North Country Public Radio
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