Psychological troubles in the time of COVID-19

It is easy for everyone to think that the only problem in front of us today is the Corona virus and its direct impact on our health and safety. All of a sudden, personal protection equipment, social distancing, and community quarantines, occupy as space in our collective consciousness. For Dr. Curtis Cripe, a host of psychological problems have also crept into our lives slowly but surely.

In more than a few cases, cabin fever has hijacked the home environment today. Cabin fever describes the psychological symptoms that people commonly experience after being trapped inside their home for prolonged periods of time. Nowadays, people are running on a short fuse as they become more restless, irritable, and lonely.

There has been an alarming spike in suicides and suicide attempts that have a strong correlation with home restrictions. Somehow, being backed into a very narrow corner has caused some people to view the loss of their own lives as a better alternative to grinding it out on a daily basis, not knowing if they will even make it far enough to outlive the virus.

Anxiety has reached an all-time high, and this has shown huge signs. People are eating less, not really because they wish to starve themselves, but because they have lost their appetites.

Sometimes people have even reached the point of depression, which is arguably one of the most tragic psychological conditions around, simply because it is too silent that it escapes even the closest people to any given individual who is suffering from it.

Dr. Curtis Cripe cautions us to be mindful of how this pandemic is causing us all of this pain, both physical and psychological. The latter has established a strong foothold in our daily lives today.

Dr. Curtis Cripe is a neuroengineer with a diverse multidisciplinary background that includes software development, bioengineering, addiction recovery, psychophysiology, psychology, brain injury, and child neurodevelopment. He is part of a White House-NASA initiative created to spearhead telemedicine during this time of pandemic. Dr. Curtis Cripe is also the Research and Development lead at the NTL group.

Neurodevelopment and beyond: When children have bad dreams

One of the fascinating things that can happen to people occurs in their dreams. When people sleep, the body rests, but the mind at times goes to places the body otherwise would have never reached. However, the opposite can also happen. Sometimes, dreams can be quite scary and downright terrifying. While this can be jarring even for the most courageous of adults, one can only imagine the effect on children.

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Dr. Curtis Cripe mentions that what magnifies nightmares for children is that at a young age, they still have issues telling the waking and dream worlds apart. This is still a huge question mark in science and the research of dreams, but parents will be able to help their child when the latter wakes up in tears.

But before anything else, Dr. Curtis Cripe mentions that parents should never dismiss their children’s dreams. Doing so may have a negative effect on children, especially since some nightmares may impact how a child perceives the world and, ultimately, their behavior. That said, parents should also learn how to approach a child without making things worse.

Psychologists and therapists have come up with ways in which parents may help children confront the situation. Children may be asked to draw their dreams, with these drawings becoming topics of conversation later. Another way is to reinforce the belief in children that they are safe with their parents at all times, Dr. Curtis Cripe adds.

However, mental health experts mention that if children cannot let go of their dreams and they seem bothered throughout the day, parents should take the next step and bring them to a child psychiatrist.

Dr. Curtis Cripeis a neuroengineer with a diverse multidisciplinary background that includes software development, bioengineering, addiction recovery, psychophysiology, psychology, brain injury, and child neurodevelopment. For more updates on neurological disorders, visit this blog.