Coming Together In a Crisis
By Elsa Friis, MA and ABHA
As the United States and the world frantically musters their resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to remember that pandemics go beyond just the physical risks and preparations – they also bring a host of psychological and social stress “injuries”. The history of human behavior during infectious disease outbreaks suggests we can expect both a rally to come together to support one another, and divisions, finger pointing, blaming, and stigma.
In 2014, I was a graduate student helping run a positive parenting program in Liberia when the community we were working in was struck by the Ebola outbreak. It was amazing to see the flexibility of our team to redirect resources to promote a hand-washing campaign and support the families we were working with in any capacity we could. But soon these stories were replaced with concerns that community health workers were being ostracized by their communities and families. Not only were they presumed to have contracted the disease, but because they had been going door to door as a part of their work activities, they also were perceived as purposefully spreading the disease as instruments of the government. A similar dynamic unfolded in the United States during the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. While there were examples of neighbors coming together to help each other, and volunteers sewing masks when hospitals ran low on them, xenophobic conspiracy theories surfaced, and African American citizens were barred from being treated in hospitals.
This same pattern is already playing out in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. People are rallying around to support one another, starting fundraising initiatives and food banks, and increasingly heeding public health measures such as social distancing. Simultaneously, signs of division are surfacing, examples of which include a “me first” mentality reflected by an overbuying of supplies, the racist labeling of COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and increasing reports of discrimination of members of the Asian American community.
With this in mind, here are some ways we can prevent to prevent division along with psychological and social injury during an unfolding public health crisis that promises to be highly charged, anxiety provoking and even terrifying.
1) Do not politicize this pandemic. I recently saw a graph showing how many Republicans versus Democrats believe this pandemic is “real”. It is critical that we view this information in context, and not use it to stoke political divisiveness. A virus is not a human, and it does not selectively infect people based on their political beliefs. It will impact us all and therefore we need be unified in our response. Regardless of political party, let’s call on our political leaders to act in the best interest of all humanity and listen to the public health and scientific leaders who are most knowledgeable about how to respond to this pandemic.
2) Change from thinking about “me and my family” to “all of us”. I have heard this a lot amongst my millennial peers and college students: “well I am young and healthy and if it’s inevitable that I get it, why should I stop my life”. I am ashamed to admit it, but that thought had also crossed my mind as well. However, then my dearest friend (also in her 30s) came home after attending a funeral and got sick. We then learned she may have been exposed to COVID-19. If she did have it, her underlying health conditions put her at risk to have serious complications. In fact, if the pandemic overwhelmed the health system such that care had to be rationed, her underlying health conditions could leave her to be denied life-saving care such as being put on a ventilator in order to save someone who is more likely to recover. To the younger generations: this is not only going to affect our grandparents, but our friends, our partners, our co-workers, and ourselves.
So, I urge everyone to not disconnect and just focus on your own best-interests but to have a healthy concern for the situation and engage in appropriate social distancing and other practices recommended by our public health professionals. This can be hard and frustrating. It means not having a graduation, maybe isolating from our children or other loved ones, and not doing things we value in the way we did them before. However, by shifting to appreciating the value these life changes can confer upon our society at large, we can find some meaning in the stress. If you value the health of your friends and family, then you are doing something incredibly meaningful and valuable by engaging in social distancing. The more we can remember this and shift to an “all of us” perspective the easier it will be to manage stress of changing our day to day lives.
3) Stay informed and stick to reliable sources of information. Being informed about the pandemic and how to appropriately respond is a powerful tool. By taking recommended steps we can lower our own anxiety and gain a sense of empowerment and control (even if it is small). Take a moment and really think about how much exposure to the media is healthy and necessary for you and your family. Rely on scientifically informed information put out by medical and public health officials, such as the Center for Disease Control, your doctor’s office or local hospital, or your local/state public health department.
4) Find a way to do something meaningful and stay socially connected. It is easy to feel powerless when we are faced with a situation that we cannot control and is likely to radically impact our lives. Take a moment and think of something you can do that would be helpful for others (or yourself). Maybe this could take the form of setting up a local list-serve for neighbors to utilize if they need help getting groceries or taking that 20 minutes to call a friend and see how they are doing. Social distancing does not mean we cannot have social connection, it simply means finding new ways to stay engaged with our friends, family and community while maintaining a physical distance.
Helpful Resources
General Information about COVID-19:
· SAMHSA: https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/tips-social-distancing-quarantine-isolation-031620.pdf
COVID-19 related Anxiety:
· CDC Coping Resources: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html
· General Recommendations: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2
· University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Self Help Brochures: http://counselingcenter.illinois.edu/node/376
COVID-19 related Anxiety for Children:
· CDC:
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