Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Psychological troubles in the time of COVID-19

Image source: fi.co

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.

Image source: newscientist.com

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.