Countries around the world have taken steps to reduce their citizens’ freedom of movement in a bid to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, leaving nearly 4 billion people stuck in their homes.
The ways of submariners – who face long spells of isolation among themselves and society as a whole during their time at sea, may prove invaluable to individuals, families and communities who are currently experiencing psychological trauma from long periods without contact with the wider world as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, mental health experts suggest.
Dr. Dmitry Kovpak, psychotherapist, physician and specialist in the treatment of depression and phobias at the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, says maintaining a regimented schedule – including strict observance of sleep, work and rest periods, is important to maintaining proper emotional balance during a prolonged period of self-isolation. At the same time, he warns against treating the lockdown like a prolonged holiday or party, or abusing alcohol during quarantine, suggesting that doing so will only upset one’s psycho-emotional balance.
A photo taken and handout on April 10, 2020 by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis presiding over Good Friday’s Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) at St. Peter’s Square in The Vatican on April 10, 2020, during the lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus.
Svetlana Shtukareva, the director of the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis’s Higher School of Logotherapy, agrees, and says that even though it may be difficult for the human psyche to accept the restrictions, individuals who see opportunities, and not just challenges, in the self-isolation measures will have a better chance to survive the crisis with their mental health intact.
“Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychologist and prisoner of Nazi concentration camps, spoke of a phenomenon known as ‘Sunday neurosis’,” Shtukareva recalls. Frankl described the phenomenon as “that kind of depression which afflicts people who become aware of the lack of content in their lives when the rush of the busy week is over and the void within themselves becomes manifest.”
People wear masks as they wait to enter a Costco Wholesale store during the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington, DC, U.S.
Last week, AFP reported that over 3.9 billion people, or roughly half of the world’s population, have been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments to try to help slow the spread of COVID-19. According to the news agency, over 90 nations around the world have introduced some kind of mandatory or recommended self-confinement, curfew and quarantine measures.
Since emerging in Wuhan, China in late 2019, the novel coronavirus has gone on to spread to virtually every country in the world, with the World Health Organization reporting over 1.7 million confirmed cases and more than 103,000 fatalities associated with the virus. In addition to the health crisis, the pandemic has caused an economic catastrophe which the International Monetary Fund estimates is the worst since the 1930s Great Depression.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
0.00 (0%) 0 votes
