Contents
This is how a second confinement would affect us psychologically
Psychology
Vital crises, reactivation of trauma, phobic behaviors, relationship problems and feelings of anguish and hopelessness could resurface in a second confinement, according to experts
Companies that vacation are being for many an escape route from situations of confinement in which moments of anguish, Stress, fear e uncertainty, and great sadness. Experts have seen how obsessive behaviors, phobias or temporary psychological disorders have affected the population to a greater or lesser extent, with or without previous symptoms, and warn that a possible second confinement could reopen sequelae not yet cured, which could be much more damaging to mental health than the first.
The Spanish population is concerned about its economic health, and also mental. «When the door was opened and the Spaniards left the house, we began to receive inquiries with states of hypochondria and compulsive behaviors, apprehensions, obsessions, and fears. But, in general, what patients convey to us is their state of physical and psychological exhaustion», Explains Marta de la Fuente Lago, health psychologist, specialist in anxiety and stress disorders, and member of Top Doctors. The expert explains that facing for the first time a situation in which so much lack of control is experienced in so many areas puts the population in a situation of continuous uncertainty that leads to anguish and hopelessness that is very difficult to handle. In this sense, a good management of mental exhaustion and uncertainty, they would be key to face the new implementation of restrictive measures or a possible second confinement.
Resilience has been “touched”
Society has faced a emotional lack of control who has been relieved with the lack of refinement and vacations, a new air, a return to old routines and more social encounters that allow us to feel vestiges of a pre-covid state. However, with the arrival of the sprouts, the return of the restricciones and partial confinements, the alarms go off again. Maria Rosario Gomis Ivorra, emergency psychologist, EMDR clinician and member of Psicoemergencias CV and Top Doctors, participated in various lines of psychological care in the Valencian Community during confinement. “At first, most of the calls were from women between the ages of 50 and 60, with dependents and small homes. But later those of people of all genders, social conditions or personal situation joined, as well as those isolated who had no one who could help them. In 65% of the cases they presented depression, and anxiety in 27% ».
The expert assures that the population is currently with problems of emotional deregulation, trying to restore normalcy to their lives, and that a hypothetical new confinement, would rapidly worsen mental health. «Those effects that we all suffer progressively during the first confinement would emerge faster and stronger. Our resilience would be affected by the fatigue caused by the first emotional dysregulation ”, he explains.
What we have lived …
During the confinement the population has had to face many changes in their lives. In the consultations, the experts have mainly observed the following situations:
· Vital crises. Adults with anxiety disorders exacerbated by confinement, who question their lifestyle and are motivated to change their interpersonal and affective relationships and their management and quality of time.
· Trauma reactivation. People who manifest anxiety and a feeling of revival of traumatic situations suffered in the past, almost always during childhood and adolescence, “because the pandemic makes them experience an extreme existential situation in which the feeling of helplessness, lack of control or control predominates. impossibility of defending oneself against a real threat ”explains Dr. Luisa Fernanda Yágüez Ariza, clinical psychologist specializing in child-adolescent and family psychology, and member of Top Doctors.
· Phobic and paranoid reactions. Related to the fear of contagion by oneself or by the people in their care, to which they react with obsessive-compulsive cleaning crises, OCD, superstitious behaviors and sleep disorders (nightmares and insomnia).
· Couple breakups. Acute emotional crisis as a result of ruptures in relationships, where the inability to assume the reality of the situation, an emotional dependence, low self-esteem and a feeling of unbearable abandonment predominate.
· Family communication problems. According to the data of the experts, in the last months 40% of the couples went to consultation in search of therapy to improve their communication both with their partners and with their children.
· Parents and children immersed in conflictive divorces. Usually given in pairs with previous miscommunication. Confinement exacerbates their inability to adapt and flexibilize agreements regarding visitation or communication with children, which leads to a serious increase in conflict and a tendency towards prosecution, affecting the children and adolescents involved, who develop anxiety crisis and psychosomatic symptoms.
· Lack of labor and personal control. The uncertainty regarding the employment situation leads to a continuous feeling of insecurity and vulnerability with respect to the economic situation, which leads to anxiety-depressive symptoms. Another cause of stress was caused by the need to be forced to work and care for the family at the same time, which had an impact on the quality of family relationships.
How to accept and apply what you have learned
However, according to data from Top Doctors.es, 7 out of 10 of the patients appreciate the situation and the way they have been able to live during the confinement that began in March, accepting the circumstances and handling them in the best possible way.
Spaniards have gradually adapted to the circumstances and assure that now they could better apply what they have learned. Dr. Gomis, collects a series of tips to better deal psychologically with the new restrictions that appear with the new outbreaks that have occurred:
1. Get organized the day so that you always know what to do, to gain a sense of control. Always with flexibility, if you don’t have time to finish something, I’ll finish it tomorrow.
2. Try do stuff that until now could not be due to lack of time. Now that you have it, you have to enjoy it.
3. Stay in contact with the people around us.
4. Try to get a moment to do physical exercise, even inside the house.
5. Make sure that staying informed is not the only one motivation of the day
6. If you have offspring, try to transmit tranquility and control, always counting the truth if they ask.
Finally, it is worth remembering what the WHO recommends to combat depressive states:
1. Do aerobic exercise, in hours of sunlight, at least 50 minutes a day.
2. Eat healthy and, if possible, a Mediterranean diet.
3. Sleep, horizontally, about 8 hours or so.