As the pandemic rages on, people continue to talk about their emotional distress and a growing sense of despair. Some mental health researchers suggest the increased reports of depression and anxiety indicate a rise in mental disorders stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. But is this actually the case?
I do agree that, as some of the aforementioned research also finds, months of restrictions, isolation and uncertainty are taking a toll on the emotional well-being of increasing numbers of people. I've observed this in my psychotherapy practice, among the students I teach and on social media.
I take issue with the fact that it has become routine to medicalize human suffering by attaching a mental health diagnosis to it. This doesn't address the source of people's anguish. Nor does a diagnostic label enable something that is essential to people's capacity to cope and adapt: deriving meaning from their own experiences.
As I argue in a recent article published in the Journal of Ethics in Mental Health,the virus is making it more difficult for most people to avoid and deny some of the realities that are challenging to accept.
The apparently objective practice of medicalizing human suffering has become routine. Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Pervasive anguish
It is our human nature to use avoidance and denial, often unconsciously, to protect us from the more distressing parts of our lives, including uncertainty and our own mortality.
Rather than accepting the inevitability of death, and the uncertainty of daily living, most people tend to live according to illusions of certainty, convincing themselves they can count on the arrival of tomorrow, next year and 10 years from now. We can usually tolerate shorter periods of ambiguity - a few days, a few weeks. Generally speaking though, we don't do well when asked to endure longer periods of limbo.
For the past year, COVID-19 has been poking at the emotional defence mechanisms many people rely on to create a sense of stability. Many of the routines, connections and places people depend on to stay grounded have been missing from their lives. There hasn't been much certainty to anchor us, and we much prefer to feel anchored.
