Mental Health Care For Front-Line workers and General Public During and After COVID-19
COVID-19 and mental health … What is and will be the impact of COVID-19 on mental health? Since the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been significant concern about the mental health care and well-being of general public as well as frontline workers. Social media and news have been constantly publishing tips and guides for psychological self-care and multiple websites, hotlines, and resources have been opening and offered throughout Canada and Ontario.
The concern is there and we should not dismiss it. It is, in fact, a great social achievement that finally mental health well being has moved to the top of our social and political priorities. However, in order to prevent this from becoming another social/political cliché that everybody heard of, but nobody knows what it actually means (like, for example, mindfulness), maybe we should carefully examine actual evidence and to guide provision of such service based of what we know. (more…)
Psychology of Isolation and Confinement – From Space to COVID-19
Isn’t this surreal? First couple of weeks it looked like a weird dream, but now, 4 weeks after the lockdown it starts looking as a new albeit strange reality. Most probably, we are in this for a long haul and will need some good coping strategies. If anything, human beings are adaptive and resilient. So, let’s see what can we learn and take with us on this surreal journey. (more…)
Physical Distancing – Not Social Isolation: Lessons from Psychology for COVID-19
Social distancing has been a first call for action after the widespread of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been enforced all over the world as the most important and efficient way to “flatten the curve”. Indeed, it looks like it works and we all might need to continue with a lock-down for some time. However, many psychologists almost instantly reacted on different social media platforms urging not to mix up physical distancing and social distancing. Intuitively, it makes sense. However, let’s take a look what are the dangers of social distancing that so many psychologists intuitively oppose to. What science tells us about social distancing and social isolation, why it is so dangerous, and what can we do about it? (more…)