The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting people around the world for a year now. Statistics show that in Virginia, there were 7,152 newly reported COVID-19 cases on Dec 17, 2020 (“Virginia Coronavirus Cases and Deaths”). Unfortunately, this has a profound effect on people not only physically but also psychologically. People are forced to remain in quarantine, but patients continue to fall ill and die around them. Thus, maintaining mental health during the pandemic is no less important task than treating the virus (Singh et al., 2020). The purpose of this paper is to discuss resources for dealing with psychological difficulties during this period.
Hampton Roads currently has insufficient resources to maintain the mental health of the population. All the forces of medical institutions are thrown into the fight against COVID-19, so they do not have the opportunity to pay much attention to healthy people. The first resource that could help the population is psychological education. Society was not prepared for this stress and does not know how to cope with it (Xiong et al., 2020). Hence, people need brochures, websites, and other resources with information on how to stay calm during this period. Short, cheap, or even free psychological counseling can also be helpful. With their help, people will better understand what is happening to them and more calmly survive the pandemic.
The main cultural complications that arise during the pandemic are the socialization habits of people. Americans are used to spending time together, visiting interesting places, and communicating with each other. Now they cannot do it at the moment, so their life is changing dramatically. This aggravates their psychological state and harms their mental health. Therefore, it is vital to consider this aspect of behavior and develop new ways of interaction, such as online events.
Fortunately, Americans do not have a genetic predisposition to either the COVID-19 virus or psychological issues. However, mental problems are caused by the peculiarities of modern society based on the Internet and media. Therefore, the reduced consumption of media content could help people in this situation. They need more communication with each other, involving hobbies, and self-development. On the contrary, absorbing news and nonsensical content flooding the Internet increases anxiety and depression. This is a global trend that should be eradicated.
Various potential behavior changes could help people with mental problems. One of them is following a specific structure of life. This applies to both the organization of time and the organization of space. People who work and study at home need a particular time and place for different activities. This will allow the brain to get used to the new lifestyle and calmly switch from work to rest (Serafini et al., 2020). Thus, people will not feel locked up and will be able to abstract themselves from problems. They will not “live at work” and willfully exist even during the period of restrictions.
Maintaining mental health during the pandemic is one of the crucial tasks of all humankind. People need to stay strong and aware and stick together. Fruitful communication, competent distribution of forces, and time management will help create a comfortable psychological climate. Avoiding constantly reading the news will save people from anxiety and unnecessary worries. This way, by the end of the pandemic, people will remain as healthy as they were at the beginning and will return to their past life schedule. Plus, they will develop healthy habits that will stay with them forever and make them more conscious.
References
Serafini, G., Parmigiani, B., Amerio, A, Aguglia, A., Sher, L., Amore, M. (2020). The psychological impact of COVID-19 on the mental health in the general population. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 113(8) 531–537.
Singh, S., Roy, D., Sinha, K., Parveen, S., Sharma, G., & Joshi, G. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry research, 293, 113429. Web.
Virginia Coronavirus Cases and Deaths. USA Facts. Web.
Xiong, J., Lipsitz, O., Nasri, F., Lui, L., Gill, H., Phan, L., Chen-Li, D., Iacobucci, M., Ho, R., Majeed, A., & McIntyre, R. S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 55–64.