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2020-04
The impact COVID-19 had on my mental and emotional health.
My experience throughout this unexpected pandemic took a toll on my state of mental and emotional health. When I first found out about how quick this virus was spreading throughout our city, schools were still not closed officially and I was still traveling on public transportation to work. When taking public transportation, due to the lack of masks, I had to wear a scarf around my face because that was the only way I could think of protecting myself. I was anxious all the time, but most especially on the train and bus rides, my anxiety would get the best of me, so much that at times I felt like I had to hold my breath so that I can minimize my exposure to contracting this virus. Once things started getting really bad and schools and non essential jobs finally shut down, it was a slight relief. Switching from in person lectures to virtual learning was not as easy as I had thought it would be. I was now not only anxious and worried because of this pandemic and the health of myself and my loved ones but also because I was having a hard time trying to adapt to a different style of learning. I was taking two science courses, both biology and chemistry which were not the easiest topics for me. To prevent us from "cheating" professors had made the exams much harder which was another stressor. Throughout the spring semester I was staying up really late at night trying to study in every way possible so that I would do well on my upcoming exams. Whenever I had the time to sleep I just couldn't because my anxiety wouldn't let me. I would have never imagined this getting so bad, I thought maybe with quarantining we would have it under control but unfortunately this virus is still on going and who knows when we'll get back to what was considered normal. -
2021-03-26
‘They became warriors’: Reflections from the front lines as Tséhootsooí Medical Center workers share experiences
By Rima Krisst | Mar 26, 2021 | CORONAVIRUS, People | Tséhootsooí Medical Center workers share experiences Wilberta “Billy” Jackson, public health nurse III This pandemic has been the longest roller coaster of stress, grief, and loss. I’ve kept my routine simple – sleep, eat, and exercise. And, more sleep. This has been and will probably be the most challenging time of our lives. I could focus on all the bad, but so much good has come from this, from community members stepping up, leaders rolling their sleeves up and getting dirty, how we came together to care for our elders, and so much more. Professionally, we’ve adjusted and readjusted a million times over and completely changed how we deliver health care. We’ve had information, guidance, and policies being added or changing every day and we still were able to deliver health care in a safe, efficient manner. At the beginning of the pandemic, our leaders were warning everyone about the health care system being overwhelmed. Most people thought about it in terms of hospitals running out of beds, but they didn’t think of it in terms of how an underfunded and shorthanded public health force would respond to a pandemic in a rural area with limited resources, and where a population’s most basic physiological and safety needs are not being met. When you don’t have access to clean water, food, shelter and security, you’re not able to prioritize prevention measures until your basic human needs are addressed. The resiliency of the Diné people is unrivaled. The days I’m struggling or feel like giving up, I hear my grandmother’s words, and that’s what keeps me going. And my mother’s surprise delivery of Navajo soul food meals. I’m a public health nurse, so it won’t come as a surprise that I’m excited about the COVID vaccines. We’ve already seen a substantial decline in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, so we know it’s working. My hope is that our response to the next pandemic or health care crisis won’t be complicated by politics, lack of national strategy, lack of preparation, and misinformation. Stacey Burnside, Primary Care registered nurse What I have learned from this pandemic is to cherish every day and every person that you love. COVID-19 has impacted my family and me profoundly. I lost an uncle and an aunt to COVID-19, and to this day, it is surreal that they are gone. As a primary care nurse, it is difficult to hear about losing a patient to COVID-19, and at the peak, it was almost a daily occurrence… The challenges that I faced during this pandemic were adapting to the changes in work roles and being separated from the people I love. The clinic that I worked in was closed when the pandemic hit the first peak, and I, along with my coworkers, was informed that we had to work in the Emergency Room. The moment that I saw a patient who needed me to be their nurse, despite having COVID-19, humbled me. That moment in the ER humanized COVID-19 for me and made me realize that I was put there for a reason. No matter what the situation is, nurses adapt, and the teamwork and strength we draw upon each other are phenomenal. A huge hit to me personally and professionally was losing a friend to suicide … dealing with grief, loss, and stress has been a daily thing. What has helped me is drawing strength from my God, husband and son, and family. There are many negatives to the pandemic, but one positive that many have seen is the love and strength we have found among our families. I am thrilled that we are at a point of a high vaccination rate in the Navajo Nation. I remember when I administered my first COVID-19 vaccine to a patient, it brought tears to my eyes, and I cried after work. Leah Chattin, respiratory therapist I’ve been a respiratory therapist since 2003. What I experienced throughout the first surge of COVID-19 here on Dinetah is not what you prepare for. I see the impact on my life as deep internal scars that I buried and to resurface those experiences is a nightmare. Imagine the inability to fully take a deep breath, something so simple we take for granted. Supporting my patients with breathing treatments, providing chest physical therapy, changing breathing devices constantly because the demand for oxygen escalates all in a 12-hour or more shift. All these specialized techniques to avoid the last option of intubation, allowing an artificial airway introduced to your trachea with an opening at the tip to provide mechanical breaths from a mechanical ventilator. Fear expressed from my patients was a frequent emotion. You are alone, isolated from your family, your loved ones, no familiar face to embrace, to celebrate your improvement or the worst, a decline despite the battle you have endured. I’d remind my patients not to give up… Instinct took over because I’m a mother too, a nurturer. I can remember softly stroking their hair, holding their hands, shedding tears, praying, putting myself in that empty place at bedside where your family should be gathered, processing the grief. Accepting loss was tremendously difficult. I lost myself because I did not decompress my emotions. My spirit slivered away slowly each time my patients faced rejection of our efforts to sustain life. How I endured and sustained my sanity was prayer requests. Prayer was undoubtedly my saving grace. This virus is fluidic, the path it took was unpredictable. I strongly believe we need to continue wearing a mask, following the CDC guidelines and begin or sustain our health and wellness. Putting into words my experience was not an easy effort, however it’s a pathway for healing. Every COVID patient I battled for will forever have a place in my heart. Sandra Fouser, nurse executive of the Primary Care and Specialty Clinics Seeing the virus cross the ocean and hit the heart of the Navajo Reservation forever changed our lives. As a health professional, I knew venturing into the unknown with limited protection meant some would survive and some wouldn’t. What I have learned working on the front lines – compassion, cohesiveness, companionship, strength, sadness and mental stress. We have been battered, beaten, praised, comforted and have also received recognition from all walks of life. I am proud to be a nurse. I believe the strength to endure comes from resiliency and the people we work with and the support of our families at home. As nurses, we cannot stand still. I feel it is in our blood to help and move forward. I have lost friends, coworkers, relatives and patients. The grief I feel is palpable, almost more than I can handle. Seeing my family, staff and patients suffer through illness and grief has been very challenging and heartbreaking. As a team, I believe when something happens to one of us, we all feel the effects, we grow closer and find comfort in each other. I see the vaccine as a progression toward eradicating the detrimental effects of this virus and giving us hope that there is a better tomorrow and that Hózhó will be restored. Dr. Karen Williams, hospitalist physician I am a Native physician (Mountain Maidu/Apache) and Indian Health Service Professional Scholar. When the pandemic started our hospitals were suddenly overwhelmed with large numbers of very ill patients needing oxygen. Some patients who worsened were placed on a “life support” or ventilators since they could no longer breathe on their own. Despite our best medical management efforts, including use of high-flow oxygen, there were patients who did not survive. I witnessed more death in a year than I have ever experienced in my career. This was traumatic for me because every day I came to work I felt like I was coming into a war zone. We saw people struggling to breathe and fighting for their life. We heard family members saying their goodbyes to their loved ones and crying over the phone. We held hands of those who took their last breath and witnessed co-workers not able to control their tears. If it were not for our team efforts, almost a military-style mentality, we could not have managed. As a hospitalist physician, the biggest challenge was ensuring that I had the most up-to-date medical knowledge to save a patient’s life. During the beginning of the pandemic many doctors throughout the country did not feel prepared. This was quickly overcome by learning medical strategies used by doctors throughout the world. The treatments used included steroids, anticoagulant medications, and high-flow oxygen. We had the support of our hospital’s incident command leadership and adapted to the changes. This included being able to offer our patients who needed oxygen a federal Drug Administration-approved “emergency use” medication called Remdesivir, and more recently Bamlavinimab for non-hospitalized patients My experiences on the front lines were psychologically and physically overwhelming … I sought support from elders and used my Native spirituality for strength. I also sought protection support from traditional Indian practitioners who set up a tipi and hogan outside the hospital for employees. I sometimes thought twice about the danger I was in. However, I acknowledged that I would never walk away. This is a result of my obligation to the Native community and the hundreds of patients I had gotten to know for so long. I “warriored up” in my mind and sought to do the best I could. I do not foresee an end to mask wearing, and now recognize how careful we all must be to protect each other. I saw too many elders get severely ill and even pass away from COVID as a result of young family members not being careful and bringing it home. I have encouraged community members and my own family to get the vaccine as soon as possible. I received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and said a prayer in my Native way each time for protection. Natasha Topaha, certified medical assistant, Mobile Unit Overall, this year has been extremely challenging, but also has reinforced my personal strength and resiliency. I have had ongoing concerns throughout the epidemic regarding my kids’ isolation and their mental health. It has been difficult, but doable, to manage both working in health care and supporting my family both emotionally and physically. I had constant worry about bringing the virus home and infecting my family given that I was working in high risk areas and providing COVID testing, vaccines and social and mental health support to patients. I found that doing outdoor activities with my family, such as bike riding and hiking, helped me ease my stress and helped teach my children some healthy coping skills. And we could spend time together! I feel very happy and grateful in both receiving the vaccine and being able to provide it to patients and the community. I feel safer at work and at home now. Johnny Willeto Jr., facility manager/logistics chief The strength to endure comes from within yourself. For me this began in my childhood as the son of Delphine Damon Willeto and Johnny Willeto Sr., who nurtured me to become a great human being. They taught me to be a courageous, productive worker and know my limitations. As a facilities manager, my main focus and responsibilities are the protection in the physical environment of all who walk through the doors of Fort Defiance Indian Health Board’s facilities. All we knew is that COVID-19 was airborne and surface communicated. I treated it as you would tuberculosis and ensured that my staff had adequate PPE to help protect them when they are tasked with working in the patient care areas. This responsibility was a big challenge when trying to procure medical equipment such as masks, gloves, safety glasses, gowns, scrubs, and so forth. Having an MBA has allowed me to flourish in this high stress environment and to adjust with adaptations to finding supplies and creating new relationships with trustworthy suppliers. Being in close proximity to patients who are struggling with getting well can be heart wrenching. Being able to fulfill my duties in the support role to the best of my ability for my community and teammates has allowed me to sleep well at night knowing that I gave it my all. I have lost a brother-in-law who contracted the virus in the Scottsdale area of Arizona. These were very difficult times because as Navajos we are accustomed to comforting each other by a hug or handshake. With COVID, gatherings are not safe, so having family meetings for planning the funeral is off and also the funeral usually consists of 10 minutes before the burial with only a few close family in attendance. One of the biggest assets I have gained is the spiritual belief in God and keeping the communication open by saying my prayers often – to be thankful for the blessings that have come my way or when asking for strength to endure the hardships. In my free time I isolate on the Willeto Sheep Ranch in Goatsprings Valley, Arizona, where I tend 120 sheep and goats. Being able to separate the everyday stress and recharge is paramount to going forward with courage and mental sharpness to make the right choices for the organization, patients and employees. The vaccines are an effective tool to help reduce the mortality of the virus on us and give us protection to this invisible enemy. Corinne Legah, Environmental Service supervisor Personally, I was scared when I first heard of the spread of the virus overseas. It was shocking how fast the virus traveled. In the beginning our team was needed to help keep the hospital sanitized and safe for patients. We reinforced training on the cleaning process for the airborne/droplet virus. I constantly stressed wearing PPE and hand washing. I am so proud of the team for stepping up by protecting our patients. They became warriors to fight the virus. I believe without my husband’s support and God I would not have been able to cope. I have lost friends and family from this virus. It saddens me that many of our people are now in the spirit world. Being a Native and growing up with Navajo beliefs, I had to be strong. My ancestors went through so much and our people are resilient. Prayer is our strength. I cried when I watched the news when the vaccine was given to the first person in the U.S. If everyone gets their vaccine we will be able to interact with family again. I am looking forward to that day! -
2020-11-26
Thanksgiving 2020
This was the homemade stuffing I made for Thanksgiving of 2020. Due to social distancing my family had in order to protect people, my extended family ate at two separate locations. For me, that meant going to my parent's place next door and dining with my aunt and uncle. My grandparents had their own celebration with other family members. One interesting twist to this was that we all ended up eating the same food between both houses because it was split up. This is why I ended up making a lot more stuffing than I normally would for Thanksgiving. In addition to this, I brought over some homemade cranberry sauce and homemade jam. I had learned to make canned jam during 2020, and I had some leftover to give. Everyone enjoyed the food I made and my aunt said it was some of the best stuffing she ever tasted, and she isn't really a big fan of stuffing. Sadly, the stuffing was not enough to ease tensions on the politics happening at the time. Other parts of the day included my family getting into a political discussion on the 2020 election. I had different views on it than my family did, so I left once that started. Later on in the evening, me and my husband went over to my in-laws. My sister-in-law was sick with COVID, so my father-in-law gave her food from the evening for her to take home. I was bummed about that, but people did not want to take their chances of getting others sick, which I understood. My father-in-law invited someone that year from Egypt for the occasion. It also turned into a political discussion there. I felt more comfortable voicing my opinions there than I did with my immediate family, but it was still draining. It made an otherwise okay evening into something that I don't want to think about. 2020 was a hard year for many people, and the election being so close to Thanksgiving made it very awkward. It has toned down since then, but I think people being locked down and exposed to constant social media and news coverage made it harder for people to actually discuss things. I think it's a good thing to be informed, but I do not believe the information overload many dealt with during 2020 was healthy. It even took a toll on me, as it made my mental health worse. Between the lockdowns, protests, and election, it was hard for me to take all at once. My only real solace was school and my husband, as both forced me to think of things not happening at the very moment. As a history major, I find it easier to think of events in the past than I do the present at times. It's why I really like the medieval period in Europe because it is far enough removed from the current era, so I am less likely to get heated about some of the topics brought up. With current events, I need to take a break at times. It was very obvious that the Thanksgiving from 2020 was not something that really made my mental health better. I enjoyed the food and the company, but I had a hard time wanting to discuss politics with people that I interact with regularly. It's one thing to discuss with strangers I might never see again, but completely another to talk about it with people that you need to interact with daily. Now that things are back to normal, for the most part, the tensions are not as high. I find myself being able to discuss politics again with some family members without it going badly. Overall, I would say that Thanksgiving 2020 was a good social experiment on how much overexposure to media and lockdowns can be detrimental to personal relationships. Seeing things behind a screen too often and being away from others takes a toll on humanity. This is why I was so glad when things started opening up again because people need to be out more and with others. As much as technology has helped us communicate, it still can't make up for the human interaction everyone needs. My own mental health has been much better since the ending of the restrictions and I don't want to go back to them again. -
2021-04-11
Indirect acute effects on physical and mental health
This academic article is in the Lancet, a medical journal. I chose this because it is public, unlike some academic articles, and it is, as of right now, a pretty unique research article. Although it is done in the UK, it reviewed medical records, both physical and mental, from 2017 to 2020. The changes are a little surprising, as the largest reductions in health care at the start of the restrictions were diabetic emergencies, depression, and self-harm. This is something I have seen a lot in my research into the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental illness is the last thing to be cared for in a pandemic, or even in other natural disasters. The consequences on human health from this pandemic are only just now coming to light. This journal entry covers in-depth research and I highly suggest it. -
2020-11
Comparing the Impact of COVID-19-Related Social Distancing on Mood and Psychiatric Indicators in Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) and Non-SGM Individuals
"There has been direct correlation with mental health disparities and sexual and gender minority (SGM) compared with cisgender heterosexual individuals. SGM members report having elevatedrates of emotional distress, symptoms related to mood and anxiety disorders, self-harm, and suicidal ideation and behavior. Social support is inversely related to psychiatric symptoms, regardless of SGM status. The COVID-19 pandemic—with its associated limited social interactions—represents an unprecedented period of acute distress with potential reductions in accessibility of social support, which might be of particular concern for SGM individuals' mental well-being. In the present study, we explored the extent to which potential changes in mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, worry, perceived stress, positive and negative affect) throughout the duration of the pandemic were related to differences in perceptions of social support and engagement in virtual social activity, as a function of SGM status. "-Front Psychiatry. 2020; 11: 590318. Published online 2020 Dec 22. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.590318 -
2021-04-05
Online Article: Law enforcement officers need to be proactive in self-care to ensure they are resilient in the midst of loss and trauma
This article discusses guidance for law enforcement professionals to adopt better self-care practices through this pandemic and the increased volume of vicarious trauma, depression, anxiety, and suffering prevalent in our societies. The author specifically addresses the problem of police suicide, which is often committed at similar rates to military combat veterans. While the article's content helps officers potentially deal with the difficulties of their calling, it might also help the public better recognize the darker and unwelcome realities of police work. -
2020-08-05
Justice for Travis Jordan
“I expected an ambulance to come and convince him to get treatment at the hospital,” Tarin Vang said after calling 311 requesting a wellness check for her boyfriend, Travis Jordan. “I thought someone could come to save his life, calm him down and take him somewhere safe where he could get into a better frame of mind. I thought they would send someone who could help him come back to his senses.” Two police officers with less than 11 months of experience responded to her call, MPD Officers Ryan Keyes and Neal Walsh. After following the officers request to leave his home, a complying and dispirited Travis was shot 8 times by officers. Travis Jordan should still be alive today. Travis' family is demanding: Travis’ case be REOPENED along with all other cases related to police violence. Officers Neal Walsh and Ryan Keyes to be charged and prosecuted for the murder of Travis Jordan. For his belongings to be given back to the family. Mike Freeman refuses to give back Travis’ notebook and black leather bracelet even though the case is closed. This is ILLEGAL. Mental health professionals to be first responders on scene during a mental health crisis, NOT the police. Visit 'Justice for Travis Jordan' on Facebook to support the family and learn more. Photos from Justice for Travis Jordan - 38th Birthday Protest - July 31, 2020 -
2020-05-16
Covid-19 The Challenges of a Mental Health Provider #AZHISTORY
Covid-19 changed the way we deliver Mental Health Services. This is my personal story of how it felt and what it required to provide Trauma Psychothery during the Pandemic. -
2020-12-11
Mental Health Interview with a College Student
I interviewed my friend Lindsey Neri who is about to graduate from University of Connecticut this winter. I wanted to hear more about a student’s mental health one-on-one verbally, especially from the perspective of someone who is preparing for graduate school next Fall. As of now we are in an awkward spot with Covid-19 unsure as to whether or not life will be nearly back to normal a year from now. And by normal I mean no more mask mandates or mandatory online classes and work from home. Neri recognizes that she is one of the more fortunate ones in terms of being able to obtain her job but is feeling as though she may end up missing out on some potentially great opportunities when she starts grad school. Like most of us, her mental health has been very affected by this pandemic but she remains grateful for what she has in life and for the most part, keeps a positive attitude even in these troubling times. -
2020-09-06
How has Covid-19 Effected Children and Adolescents Mental Health
Personaly I can relate to this because since school closed and I wasn't able to do any of my everyday activities such as seeing my friends and playing sports. Not only is online school hard, but I also find myself less motivated to do things and I feel like I have less energy. -
2020-05-05
Coping Strategies for LEOs and First Responders
First Responders, by nature of the job, daily charged with helping people through their worst moments and traumatic events. Some might say that first responders should be able to handle it, after all, they signed up for the job. But first responders, just like the rest of us, are human. No one can ever really be prepared to handle stress like that on a day after day after day after day basis. In order to help out first responders, the CDC created this website with information on how to deal with the usual stress of the job plus the new issues and problems that 2020 has decided to throw at us. I thought it important to include here, not just for posterity, but the more places this information is posted, the more available and easily accessible it is for someone who may need it, but not know where to look. -
2020-06-14
Arizona State University Mental Health Resources
A month or so ago, Arizona State University sent out some of these magnets to online students. The magnet advertises ASU's "360 Life Services" which allows students to connect with counselors and explore different resources to allow students to cope, especially during this time. We stuck this magnet on the side of our fridge. I'm grateful to be a student at a university that cares about the mental health and well-being of its student body, and that has the resources to provide students in need with help. This is particularly important during these times, and especially makes me think about students with inadequate access to healthcare and LGBTQ+ students, people of color, and other minority communities whose mental health has likely been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. -
2020-04-03
The Trevor Project highlights mental health issues and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth amid COVID-19
The Trevor Project notes concerns with physical and social distancing as it relates to LGBTQ youth. The Trevor Project also highlights their 24/7 crisis line and various mediums for contact which LGBTQ people can call or use if they feel they are in need of help or support. I feel extremely grateful to have an organization like The Trevor Project already established during times like this. I know what it's like to struggle with mental health issues, and I have been fortunate enough to have great support. I know that is not the same case for everyone, and I'm grateful that The Trevor Project can help those in need. #ASU #HST580 -
2022-03-27
Were masks and pandemic anxiety a useful distraction towards ideas that should not matter, but did (to many)?
Like everything having to do with public interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and lockdowns significantly impacted "traditional weddings." Gone were the days of large weddings, dancing around mask free and hugging the happy couple. If you search the internet, you will find a large amount of information on happy couples who had to cancel or alter their plans. Many of the #COVID BRIDES stories on this archive illustrate the extreme panic of changing plans and constant change, such as wearing masks in their pictures. The pandemic altering, delaying, or even preventing weddings has impacted society's mental health and perhaps future cultural traditions in weddings. This archive has a collection on mental health, https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/page/mental-health, which demonstrates how hard this pandemic has been on many people. The effects on mental health shows how weddings are a popular and important tradition in American society. The ceremony is a way to share your love before others, blend families and friends, and move from a "single person" to a team. When I say wedding, I mean the customs and celebration within the ceremony, not the genders of the couple. Gay marriage has not been legal throughout America long, only since 2013. The anxiety and stress of two years of delayed/cancelled weddings during a pandemic pale in comparison to the longstanding social pressure for LGBTQ people not to marry, on top of previous legality issues. There is still a large group of Americans that have the opinion that it is "evil" or a sin. I have seen and heard in person, movies, or television disparaging remarks on the idea of two men or two women getting married and/or kissing. I wanted to highlight this picture from TIME magazine as I hope it demonstrates that masks made people freak out. The idea that the officiant and the people were so distracted and concerned about the two brides either not wearing masks or being the only two kissing while not wearing masks----rather than not being male/female made me smile. I hope some of the pain, anxiety, and discomfort of the pandemic was turned into positivity by distracting people from the meaningless idea of couple's gender and that some LGBTQ opponents realized there are bigger problems in the world. -
2021-10-27
Student Support Services
The pandemic no doubt brought a lot of mental stress into student's life. The result of this stress was the mental health support, via St. Mary's University, reaching out to the student population, as well as the ministry aiding in the mental health of students. -
2021-08-30
my experience with mental health in quarantine
the drawing is a representation of how my mental state has deteriorated and I lost the confidence, ability to socialize well, and my worsening depression. -
2021-07-06
The Year the World Turned Upside Down
In the year of COVID-19, I did not want to leave my house. I was already an anxious person before COVID-19, so I was scared out of my mind when it hit. A lot of people do not talk about the mental effect that COVID-19 has had on teenagers. COVID-19 happened at the end of my sophomore year. Before COVID-19, I was such an outgoing person, and now I feel like I do not know how to talk to people without overthinking. My junior year of doing mostly virtual has crippled me in a way that few can understand. My social battery has never seemed to recover, and my anxiety is always on ten whenever I go out in public. It feels like during this pandemic, I have lost a part of me that I may never get back. I now struggle with talking to people and making friends at my new school. I was so stuck in my head during the pandemic, and now I do not know how to get out. I recognize my privilege in never getting COVID-19 and no one close to me dying. I just wanted to acknowledge the effects of COVID-19 on my mental health. I hope that I can work through the issues this pandemic has caused me and get to a better place mentally. -
2021-05-29
COVID-19 and Mental Health
I took this picture on May 29, 2020, at 10:35 am. Why I choose this picture? This picture reflected my feeling in 2020. After months without going outside, I was heading to Staten Island to visit my aunt. I remember that I had anxiety even to open the door of my apartment. Whenever I went outside, it was close to my apartment, and my skin started to itch for no reason. My family used to watch the news the whole day. I was tired of listening to the report. Besides, during COVID-19, I was having an awful time. A few months ago, one of my friends died, and It was depressing for me. Before she died, I let my ego break the relationship between us. I refused to call her or text her because I was tired of looking after her. I remember my father told me to call her because I did not know what was happening with her. I ignored him. Riding to Staten Island that morning made me remember the hard time that I was going through. The day that I went to Staten Island, it was cloudy and dark. I thought that the ferry would sink into the water. When I got to Staten Island, it started to rain, and I did not bring an umbrella. I was mad, but it was my fault for not checking the weather. I compare that dark and desperate day with the mourning of my friend and the pandemic. For months, I felt guilty and thought that I did not deserve anything good in my life. The worst of all of this is that I did not have anybody to talk to. I was in quarantine for months, and it affected my mental health. I had no desire to continue college and my business. I used to cry a lot, and all I wanted was to talk to someone about how the pandemic and the death of my friend affected me. I had desired to go to the Dominican Republic, but I could not go. I think that this source can help historians because they can get to know about different perspectives of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They would notice the anxiety that not only I went through, but everybody around the world had been through. My neighborhood was affected significantly. Some of my neighbors got COVID and died from it. I know that many people saw themselves as the picture. They thought that everything around them was going to end. They thought that they would be stuck in the pandemic forever. -
2020-03-11
Mental Health during the Pandemic
On March 11th, 2020, my life changed drastically. Just over a month into my second semester of my freshman year at Duquesne University, I was excited to keep making memories with people who became like a second family to me. However, news of a virus on the other side of the world was spreading quickly. We never thought that it would come to this country or affect us in the slightest. But on this day, the entire student body received an email that would absolutely crush me: the email from the president of the University telling us that we would need to leave. When I received this news, I do not know which I was more scared of, this mysterious virus or not being able to see my new friends for a long time. At this point, I did not know how the virus was going to affect me. I had absolutely no idea how much tragedy was about to spread throughout the country. All I knew was that the high of being a college student, with independence and a new group of amazing people was being ripped away from me like a snap of the fingers. As soon as I got home, all I did was complain to my parents that I wished I was at school. Each time I did this, I would end up feeling terrible, because I knew that people were suffering. However, even though I knew I shouldn’t, I felt like I was suffering too. My entire life, I was raised as an only child. As a kid and in high school, I had an amazing group of friends that I still talk to today. When I went to college, I started spending every waking moment with my new group of friends, whether it be doing homework, watching movies, etc. I knew I wasn’t going to be with them year-round, but I knew that I was not ready to leave them in the middle of March. After all, the semester wasn’t even over yet. Spending the rest of my semester at home was extremely difficult for me. I felt so lonely, even though my friends were just a phone call or text away. However, every time I communicated with them, I somehow felt further away from them. It was a constant reminder that I should be with them, but I could not be. Throughout the last months of the semester and into the summer, my mental health rapidly. I knew I was experiencing a small form of depression, but I did not want to admit it to anyone because there were people in the world that were suffering more as a result of the virus. I soon found some form of comfort when I realized that other teenagers and first-year college students were going through the same thing as me. So many people were taken away from the people and places that they loved most, and everyone was having a hard time coping. The coronavirus has put the entire world through a lot, but each day I have hope that the end is near, and that we will all be reunited with the world we used to know. -
2020-04-05
How Covid-19 Broke Apart and Reassembled My Life: My Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Coronavirus is not a one person issue. Everyone has had to deal with it and no one has been unaffected. I would like to recount for the archive my personal struggles during this pandemic so that they may be used for research purposes in dealing with something like this in the future. Before the pandemic started, I was a senior in high school. I had just asked my girlfriend to prom, which was just a few months away, and I had a 4.5 gpa for my senior year compared to my 3.5 for the rest of high school. I was excited to run spring track and try to break 5 minutes in the mile for the first time in high school. I hung out nearly everyday with my best friends. I had just committed to Suffolk University and was excited for the future. I didn’t really realize how bad Covid-19 was going to be until what would be our last day of school. It was a thursday, and all of us thought it would be a quick two week break to get rid of the virus and we would all be back. Obviously, that was not the case. I am a pretty social person, so when the lockdown was announced a week later, I really struggled with staying inside. Even with facetime, xbox live chat, and texting, I was not able to get enough social interaction. I felt extremely lonely. Spring sports were obviously also cancelled. This was just the first domino to fall in a long list of unfortunate events for me that, no doubt, many others experienced as well. A few weeks into lockdown, my girlfriend called me in tears telling me that her blood condition, which affects her nerve endings in almost her entire body, had gotten much more severe. Even worse, Covid-19 was making it harder to go to the hospital for the treatments. For her health, we had to break up, and I have not talked to or heard from her since. My older brother had also moved home from college at this point from UMass Amherst. While my younger brother and I have always done well in school and been well behaved kids, the same could not be said for my older brother. An avid weed smoker and oftentimes alcohol abuser, I had to share a room with him for all of quarantine, and continue to do so now. He experienced a lot less rules and a lot more freedom while in college, and did not transition well back to the stricter rules of our household, and often took this out on me. While he did not physically harm me, as I am much stronger than him, he continued to throw flurries of insults and mental abuse at me, ruining my every day. He also did this to the rest of my family, making it hell for everyone at home. At one point, my mother kicked him out, and he had to live with his boyfriend for a while. My mother also did not deal well with staying inside. She has struggled with her weight almost her entire adult life, and the closing of gyms during Covid-19 made her lose all motivation to stay in shape. She gained almost 100 pounds back in 2 months. My older brother coming home also caused her mounds of stress. Since my younger brother hid in his own locked room, and my older brother screamed or stormed out when my mom got mad at us, she took out all of her frustrations on me for the smallest things, taking away the devices I used to contact all my friends just because I had forgotten to put my shoes away or do the dishes. My father and my younger brother both dealt much better with the situation, but that did not save me from the rest of my family. After missing school and all my friends, getting my spring sport cancelled, losing my girlfriend, my brother and mother constantly berating and harassing me, and having nowhere to go but my shared room with no privacy, I began to free fall into a major case of depression and suicidal thoughts. Prior to this pandemic, I had never spoken with a therapist. I used to get bullied in elementary and middle school, but I always had ways of coping such as sports, hanging out with friends, and focusing on school, but now I had a real problem on my hands. After about 4 weeks of struggling inside of my own head, I finally realized I needed professional help. My parents set me up with a woman named Rachel via Zoom, and I talk to her every thursday. She is a licensed therapist, and is part of the new wave of technological medical care in this time of a pandemic. While she has not solved my problems, both the easing of restrictions and her mental guidance has helped me to cope with my situation. I am very grateful for her, and although I am not fully back to where I was before the pandemic, I am continuing to recover to this day. I leave to move in at Suffolk in 5 days, and I could not be more excited for the change of scenery, new friends, and a chance to continue my sport into college. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and I am sure that I am not alone in my struggles. I wrote this so that people can look back in the future to realize just how devastating an impact can have on one individual’s life if not handled properly, because Covid-19 genuinely rocked my world. -
2020-07-26
Inmates witnessed a suicide attempt. They received coloring pages instead of counseling.
After requesting support for mental health issues four time a covid positive inmate set the medical isolation unit they were in on fire. That's where this article begins but it covers much more about the lack of mental healthcare inside prisons and its effect on inmates during the pandemic. -
2020-06-30
Epic Pandemic
Mental resilience and strength of oneself -
2020-05-04
A Life in Coronavirus Isolation: The Importance of Human Interaction
I am currently a rising junior studying at Bates College. This semester has been extremely tough for me, as our school switched to remote learning about halfway through due to the Coronavirus, forcing myself and the entirety of the student body to go home and continue classes online. When the administration announced that we would be required to leave campus on Friday, March 13th, the student body had the opposite reaction of what the faculty had hoped would happen. As opposed to packing up and getting away from campus immediately, the vast majority of the student body, including myself, partied like there was no plague that could kill us all. I began to appreciate how important genuine human interactions were- sober or not- and knew that this switch to strict isolation in my home would certainly act as a stressor for the mental health issues I had been dealing with for most of my life. The move to online learning was particularly tough for me, as whereas some of my peers still had set lecture times with their professors and classmates on Zoom, all of my course's professors made the choice to either just post powerpoints and video lectures, or, in one case have us continue to work through the class material, teaching ourselves the ideas in small groups (which turned out to be particularly ineffective, as the groups were mostly focused on dividing up work amongst ourselves). This setup not only completely threw my sleep schedule off, where I was falling asleep around 4 or 5 in the morning, and sleeping till 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but the lack of human interaction and the inability to put myself in a working environment led the time I had dedicated to getting my assignments done extremely unproductive. As the end of the semester neared, the considerably lighter workload that had been given to us became much heavier, as I planned out a schedule for me to finish all my course assignments in 2 weeks, then 1 week, then 5 days, and then 48 hours. When mapping out that last plan, I knew that I had to follow it to a T, and it will be one of the hardest things I ever had to do. However, much like the first 2 months in isolation, I continued to be extremely unproductive, despite staying up however long it would take for me to finally get to work. The stress had finally got to me, and I hit rock bottom the morning after I had successfully carried out the most important parts of my 48-hour plan. COVID-19 was the stressor for my mental health issues to impact my life like they never had before. -
2020-09-03
The Mental Load Of Motherhood Has Never Been Heavier
I know I’m not the only mom hurting right now. Many moms across the world in this period of uncertainty are hurting. We’re hammered with issues. Not being able to leave our homes the way we want to. Not being able to see our friends. The fear of sending our kids to school. Deciding if we should take a vacation to bring some normalcy back into our children’s lives. To improve our mental health. Financial stress. Stress about when this pandemic will end. Taking care of our children 24/7 without a break for the last five months. Caring for kids and working at the same time. Supervising our kids’ virtual lessons. Increasing anxiety and depression. The list goes on. This pandemic has brought so many moms to their knees. I see you hurting, exhausted, anxious moms. I see you running on empty. I see the toll that it has taken on our children and on our families. I want to offer some advice that I know I would appreciate getting. Next time you see a mother and want to offer support in a way that won’t kick her while she’s already down, rather than tell her to find a silver lining in this chaos that we are living in, simply respond with “I am here for you. We will get through this together. I know it’s hard.” -
2021-01-27
The Unspoken Pandemic - Mental Anguish
This article tells about youth depression and suicide rates in the United States and how they have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Children and teenagers, who are normally bright-eyed, idealistic, and sometimes too socially adept for their own good, are developing mental afflictions like depression and suicidal ideation, using drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms, and generally suffering from all sorts of silent illnesses because of lockdown policies that have deprived them of the activities that keep them busy. When a kid has a busy life, friends at school, activities they enjoy, and various tasks to perform in order to keep their minds occupied, they turn out to be a well-balanced, healthy adult later in life. However, when every single one of these things is abruptly stripped from and the only type of structured activity they have is getting on the computer every day for “Zoom school” (which, by what I have been told by teenagers currently experiencing it, is a poorly-planned waste of time put on for show), the affect on that child’s mental health can be catastrophic. The overdramatic teenage mind will tend to think that this period is going to last “forever,” leading to a downward spiral of emotional despair and existential nihilism. Furthermore, the financial strain that the pandemic has put on these kids’ parents surely plays into this as well, making the child feel like a burden since they have to sit at home all day and watch their parents worry about the family’s financial situation. While high-income individuals with significant savings got to have lots of fun on their cute little house-camping quarantine adventure, low-income and middle-class households, the ones with the most children, had to suffer and pay a serious price for something the government decided they would do. This general phenomenon of depression, financial worries, nihilism, drug abuse, and suicide is a direct result of government lockdowns, and brings to light a shining concept that rings true for all things legislative and bureaucratic; there will always be an unintended consequence of any blanket action like these lockdowns. Perhaps they should be considered before our so-called “representatives” just do stuff without considering the wants, needs, and condition of the people that they supposedly serve. -
2020-04-01
Me, My Mom, & Her Mental Illness
This is an auto ethnography about me and my mom's experience when the Covid 19 outbreak and quarantine first started. My mom is a Black woman with Schizophrenia and I am her caretaker so it expands into larger societal issues as well. -
2021-03-28
Unintended Consequences of Lockdown
I am researching the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is an in-dept look on the consequences of lockdown in the US. While the article covers positive consequences like less pollution and less contagious diseases like the flu, I am going to talk about some of the ones related to my research. The article says most “unintended consequences fall generally into five categories: lack of care, isolation, wealth/health loss, psychological harm, and harm to children.” Lack of care includes people who do not feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital for fear of catching COVID-19. The amount of people who went in for a severe heart attack has dropped by 40%. Isolation consequences include things like an increased rate of suicidal thoughts and an increase in drug overdoses. Wealth and health loss is due to loss of income, and as evidence shows, poverty is deadly. Psychological harm involves burnouts and stress related breakdowns, as well as mental health disorders and insomnia. The harm to children section includes many heartbreaking statistics about lack of school based mental health care, sexual abuse, drug use, and neglect. The article talks about how the effects of all of this may not be known for many years, but it is clear there have been many negative consequences of lockdowns due to the pandemic. -
2020-07-07
My Quarantine Story
My experience is a firsthand story about my 14-day quarantine after I was diagnosed with Covid-19. I do not want to talk about the physical aspect of quarantine because I was asymptomatic. I want to touch on the mental wear and tear one can go through while isolating alone. No human interaction, for me, can take a toll on me because I am a very social person and can fall into a rut if I do not have social interaction. The first thing that is lost during isolation is routine. Life comes to a standstill and because there is little obligations, your mind allows you to get out of habit. The second thing that goes is a purpose and a motivation to do tasks that are typically part of your daily life. Although life is going on in the outside world, that perspective was not there for me. The last thing that goes away is your energy, not just physical energy but mental energy. My mental energy started to lack because I have a hard time being confined and I like to recharge by doing activities outside. Isolation was not just a physical challenge but a mental challenge. -
2020-04-13
Mental Health and the Covid-19 Pandemic
Uncertain prognoses, looming severe shortages of resources for testing and treatment and for protecting responders and health care providers from infection, imposition of unfamiliar public health measures that infringe on personal freedoms, large and growing financial losses, and conflicting messages from authorities are among the major stressors that undoubtedly will contribute to widespread emotional distress and increased risk for psychiatric illness associated with Covid-19. Health care providers have an important role in addressing these emotional outcomes as part of the pandemic response. -
2021-04-19
She’s Back and I’m Terrified
After 400 days to the day, my daughter walked back into her gym. A competitive gymnast who has been training with the same gym since the week before she turned 3, this has been a long year. We are privileged in the sense that the hardest decision we had to make during the pandemic was not related to jobs security, hunger, or even health (beyond keeping ourselves from COVID). Our hardest choice was not allowing our daughter to return to her gym to train when they reopened in June. My husband and I knew COVID was just beginning. We knew the spike would come and the health of our family wasn’t something we were willing to risk, especially because our jobs allowed us the luxury to work from home and distance. At first, we made case rates dropping our marker of when she’d go back. Then, with the announcement of the vaccine, we decided to wait until our household was vaccinated. By the end of March, the adults of our household were vaccinated and our local case count had dropped considerably, to an infection rate percentage of 1.4%. Still, we wondered “should we just wait until she’s vaccinated?” But she’s 10, there is no vaccine being publicized for her age. How long can we keep her from her life? It’s not just the training. It’s about mental health. We’ve kept her physically safe, but she’s 10 years old and hasn’t seen a single friend in person for almost 14 months. She hasn’t shown any signs of a mental health crisis, but even if she isn’t showing anything, this has to have taken a toll on her. It was a difficult and scary choice, but my husband and I decided her mental health and emotional health are worth the risk. She is so happy. She’s had two one on one sessions with her coach and we are all shocked (and relieved) that her daily solo workouts EVERY SINGLE DAY for 400+ days now paid off. She not only kept all her skills but learned enough her skills to advance to the next level. I know her coach is shocked. I don’t think she really believed that a kid would work hard enough on her own to keep in shape. I know my daughter is very proud and very relieved to know she can compete again. And the timing is perfect - the new season starts in May, so she’ll begin in a new level with other girls she knows who also leveled up. She never acted unhappy during quarantine, but since going back, she’s seemed lighter and happier. Still, the two times she went were one on one. The beginning of May will see her going back full time, three practices a week for ten hours a week of practice. I’m happy they’re letting her keep her mask on and that the coaches are wearing masks but I’m still nervous. It’s so hard to send your kid into a situation that may lead them to contract a deadly illness. But it’s also so hard to keep your kid in a bubble. I never in a million years imagined I’d have kept my child home for 400 days. I’m a public school teacher, I’m the first person to tell you the importance of socialization. But in a pandemic, I guess my mothering deep instinct to my child overpowered anything else. I hope and pray with everything in me that we don’t regret allowing her to go back. I hope we are turning a corner in CA and that a vaccine for kids arrives soon so I can feel slightly more relaxed. -
2021-03-31
How does the pandemic affect children?
This link is a podcast with which talks about a specific family of 4, including 2 girls ages 5 and 7 and the two guardians who have health witnessed changes in their children's behavior due to covid. It is a very interesting read and listen as both the children now have been hearing things about deaths due to covid and because of that say things such as "I don't care if I die". The read goes on to state some factual information, some important things said include, " a sex-abuse hotline operated by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network reported that half its calls in March came from minors, for the first time in its history." This was somthing that I heard for the first time and was shaken. Not only are children going through the stress of their own during the pandemic but they stay home and are potentially being abused. For some children going to school was an escape. I was though was very happy that these minors had information on who to contact for help. -
2020-02-24
My Coronavirus Experience
In the beginning of the pandemic, I immediately realized how a large portion of the public was not focused on the virus itself, but the racial controversy of the virus' origin. This was unnerving to the core, because it is a fact that COVID-19 came from China. While it was unacceptable to accept this as fact, MERS literally stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. It is clear that there was a pro-CCP agenda being pushed in the background when propagating the "COVID Safety" spiel. As time went on, more and more inconsistencies began popping up. Beauty and barber shops closed, but Nancy Pelosi is more than welcome to get her hair done. Masks become required to enter any building or participate in society at all, but when the new President was sworn in, the spectators were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and masks were few and far between. What my story says about the pandemic is that while we may have had a real potential global crisis, I believe things were skewed, twisted, and flipped so that it is most convenient for those who hold the power, and not done in the best interest of the American people. An example of this in real life was how the Los Angeles Lakers, Ritz Carlton, and Bank of America (per store) were able to get PPP loans, drain the pool of PPP money, and leave small business owners fighting for crumbs. I have linked a Washington Post article below that expands on the PPP loan problem and how our government failed small business. The pandemic I fear will have long-lasting, Orwellian effects on our society in the sense that those in power will continue to use fear mongering to control the public through COVID. Even though a vast majority of the population has already had it and are building antibodies, Western European-style, 1940s era vaccination cards are beginning to circulate. I fear these cards will be the new "gold star" or "Scarlet Letter'', except those without it would be barred from society, rather than those with it. In my opinion, COVID today is what AIDS was in the eighties. Lots of unanswered questions, lots of fear, and government intervention so that free thinking is minimized. These three, and you have a perfect recipe for controlling the masses. Both diseases were politicized to death, and public opinion of the disease swung back and forth with politicization. If AIDS was blown up to the proportion that COVID was, I couldn't imagine the backlash the political and science communities would get from a certain demographic of people who are very vocal and have a statistically higher likelihood of contracting HIV. I hypothesize that pandemic would turn into pandemonium. With that, my experience during quarantine was as expected. Mental health suffered due to lack of human interaction and ability to go outside, and physical health suffered due to inability to go outside and lack of motivation which was connected to mental health. The main positive thing from the pandemic I can identify is the performance of my stock portfolio. Even though I lost my job due to COVID, I was still able to afford rent, food, and supplies to stay hunkered down in my new $900/month prison for my three month sentence. Another big positive from the quarantine was my savings. The pandemic helped me realize how much unnecessary or emotional spending I do. It helped me point out lots of bad habits I have so I can work on fixing them. Things like spending money when I'm sad, and identifying vices that hold me back in my day-to-day. While the pandemic brought a lot of negatives to me and the world around me, I believe there are some positive things to take away from it. Opening your mind to more than what the government feeds you, appreciating every moment you have, embracing new hobbies, and learning how to maneuver through change. These are all things the pandemic has taught me, but if I had the option, I wouldn't do it again. In terms of being a part of history, simply by living you are a part of history. I was at Sloan-Kettering in NYC with my family getting a life-extending cancer treatment for my father when 9/11 happened. He was one of three patients that day because while in surgery, the first plane hit the towers. The rest of the patients to be seen that day were canceled. I suppose the point I am trying to make is that history is subjective. 9/11 wasn’t 9/11 to me. 9/11 was the day I was blessed with enough time to make some foundational memories of my father before he passed. It can be argued that since I have been invested in GameStop since November, I was a part of history there too. I went to the Game 7 Cardinals vs. Red Sox World Series Game in Fenway Park. The game that broke the Bambino Curse. Again, it could be argued that I was a part of history there too, except my three year old self was asleep for the last two innings. History is subjective, and every day, everyday people like you and I make history. Historians and memoirists will use these events in the future to write articles, make movies and tv shows, write books, and extrapolate many other kinds of art from it. However, most often historical stories are told through a lens of subjectivity, and because of that, eventually all history becomes skewed to the point where it is indistinguishable from fable. -
2020-03-01
Increase of Outdoor Participants since the Pandemic's Onset
Since the start of the pandemic, I've begun to both run and hike when I get the chance. After talking with people who have done the same since before the pandemic, they've noted how there is absolutely an increase of people outdoors. For me, it's a great way to escape and improve mental health, and I think it's worth noting how many are trying to find ways to improve themselves and keep going through various ways during such a tough time. -
2021-02-07
Supporting Children with ADHD During A Pandemic
ADHD is thankfully not as new of a topic to talk about, but I cannot deny that the stigma against mental health still exists today. While thinking about how so many children are now spending a year and an uncertain future indoors, learning from home, and some unable to grasp why, I thought about those with ADHD. A person’s home is supposed to be associated with comfort and otherwise relaxation from a day at out in the world – at school and work for guardians. Associations can be very powerful, and it can be rather disruptive for children with this big of a change. Half a child’s day is typically dedicated to academics and social connections and is especially important for children in their formative years. Due to the pandemic, they have been pulled from that environment they have already associated with learning, friends, and routine. The links provide some assistance for guardians who may be struggling with their child(ren), especially those diagnosed with ADHD. Concentration and routine seem to be the biggest obstacles, so I do hope the strategies provided may be of help to guardians and their dependents. https://childmind.org/article/giving-kids-with-adhd-support-and-structure-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/ADHD-and-Learning-During-COVID-19.aspx https://chadd.org/adhd-and-covid-19/ -
05/15/2020
Academic Analysis of Federalism during the COVID-19 Pandemic
#PSC401D #mlphelps #UNLV -
2020-05-21
Mental health awareness resources available for Arizona residents during COVID-19
A press release outlining the importance of mental health, and providing the immediate resources available for Pima and Maricopa County residents. -
2020-05-26
Student Advice
Advice given to fellow students. -
2020-04-03
It's the end of the world as we know it.
Not being able to see friends from college, and being isolated during quarantine takes a toll on ones mental health. Everything going on in the world really feels like the apocalypse. -
2020-03-16
Witness in the Plague A Simple Tip Sheet for Churches to Manage Infectious Diseases Like COVID-19
A tip sheet for how churches should respond to CO-19. -
2022
Not a Normal Year for Teachers
This post shows an example of teachers supporting each other through the end of the 2022 school year. In many different places, people are acting as if life is "normal" again. Schools are not requiring masks or sanitation procedures, school is in session like normal, in-person assemblies, activities, and sports are occurring. However, teachers can definitely tell that everything is not normal, and our job continues to be increasingly more difficult. -
2021-01-05
The Covid Pandemic as a Senior in Highschool
The website that I am linking describes what happened to students all over the world in March of 2020 when all students in schools and universities had to go on lockdown and switch abruptly to complete online learning. This is an important covid-19 related topic to me because I was a senior in high school during that time, and I really struggled with my mental health, academic achievements, responsibilities, body image, and just overall my whole life. This article isn't as personal as it could get, but it gives a good historical and general idea of what student experience during the pandemic was like. -
2022-03-07
There’s A ‘Vibe Shift’ On Reddit—People Are Sharing Heartfelt Stories Of Loneliness And Isolation Due To The Pandemic And Working From Home
This is a news story from Forbes by Jack Kelly. This story is about loneliness felt from isolation that people are discussing on Reddit. Subreddits like r/antiwork and r/wallstreetbets, a lot of these conversations are sharing details about their feelings they might not want to share elsewhere. Since Reddit allows people to submit anonymously, it gives others an environment they can give more details on subjects they maybe wouldn't tell to even their family members. Some of these discussions are about those that are single and work from home, which creates a very solitary experience. One woman, 27, on Reddit describes trying to join Facebook groups and do online dating to have more interaction during the pandemic. She says she felt a slight panic seeing her other friends get married, have kids, or engaged, which made her feel even lonelier. Others describe the challenges with finding remote work and needing support to help cope with that hardship. The lack of socialization has had massive effect on young adults just starting out in life, and it has given some worse mental health as a result. While some might thrive with being alone, others have suffered. Another woman, 32, says that prior to the pandemic, she was a 'social butterfly' and outgoing, but is now antisocial and a shut-in. She says that she lacks the motivation to go places like she used to. In addition to this, her place of employment is considering permanent work-from-home for employees, making some of those social struggles even worse. Some Redditors ended up giving advice for people that shared stories like these, such as smiling every day towards someone, or going outside for 15 minutes or longer. Simple things like this were common suggestions to help with some people's mental health issues induced because of the pandemic isolation. I think that this story helps show some of the negative effects young people have had with readjusting their entire lives, and then feeling lost once they get too used to it when things are starting to go back to "normal." -
2020-03-24
Feeling Again
When the pandemic first broke out out, many people didn't know what to think. In millennial and gen z fashion, many young adults turned to the internet to crack jokes and voice their opinion about the upcoming crisis. This meme pokes fun at the uncertainty of the viruses' signs and symptoms many medical and governmental officials had at the beginning of the pandemic. The mem also pokes fun at the idea of teenage angst and anxiety a rapid number of young adults are starting experience more and more during this recent decade. The pandemic may cause your nose and mouth to not feel anything but the real question is if young adults are really "feeling" the impact of what is going on? A Forbes report in April of this year has indicated that young people between the ages of 18-24 are starting suffer from more mental health problems than any age group since the pandemic started. Think what you will but this study definitely proves that more young adults will suffer long lasting effects of pandemic during and after the global crisis comes to a end. -
2021-08-11
There is No Good Decision
My daughter is very athletic. I don’t make that statement lightly. I do not lie and I will look you in the eye and tell you my son is not an athlete. But my daughter was born with a natural ability for sports. Anything she tries, even recreationally, she excels at. When she was 3, she began gymnastics and in first grade, she joined the competitive team. It’s not just that she’s athletic, she works extremely hard. So making her sit out an entire season due to COVID was not an easy decision. I do not regret it, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard. When this season began in May, we cautiously allowed her to return, fully masked. The cases were down and the coaches wore masks. We decided the risk was worth it for her mental health. Then the COVID restrictions were lifted June 15. My daughter became the only one in the full gym with a mask. We hoped for the best and have been lucky so far. But the cases are exploding. They are higher now than this time last year. What do we do? All her friends are from the gym. Truly. She doesn’t have any close friends at school because most of her time is spent at the gym. Can we take that away from her again? She worked out every single day of quarantine to stay in shape and she did. Can we look at her and basically say her work was for nothing? There is no good choice. What is more important? Protecting her physically or giving her the part of her life that secures her mental health? At the end of last week, I was seriously considering pulling her as the daily cases rose to 1,000+. However, in a move that shocked me knowing the clientele and position of the gym on this entire pandemic, even her gym has reinstated masks for all coaches. This made me feel maybe 5% better. Her one on one session is also from 8 - 9pm, which I was bummed at at first - so late for a kid! But I quickly realized we’re the only ones in the gym that late, which lowers my anxiety a bit. So we’re going to take the risk for now and allow her to continue going. I just hope it’s not a decision we regret. -
2020-11-24
Human–dog relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic
A study done in Israel looks at the relationship between humans and dogs during the pandemic. The study finds that, like in the United States, there was a significant increase in dog adoptions in Israel during the pandemic. They also found a direct correlation between the mental health of the owner and the perceived quality of the life of the dog. -
2020-06-08
A Balancing Act on Fire
Although the meme is meant to be comedic, I feel that it reflects the reality of the stressors many people faced during the pandemic. To begin, the anxiety that the coronavirus disease brought into the public severely affected the mental health of many individuals across the globe. During the mandated lockdowns, I , like many others around me, began experiencing a decline in my happy hormones. At the time the pandemic restrictions were being put into place, I was living on campus with three other roommates. With the fear of spreading the disease unintentionally, the three moved out of the dorm right away and I was left to be on my own due to personal housing issues taking place at the time. The lack of interaction with anyone took a toll on my mental health. I missed my friends and my mom, I just wanted to be around someone, but we could only have visitors if they were helping us move out. On top of personal mental health struggles, events taking place across the country were also scarring. Protests in response to racial injustice under an administration that made it hard to feel safe unless you were a white male in America only added to the helpless state of being. Watching cases upon cases of unjustifiable abuse made the environment only more threatening than it initially seemed when the pandemic was first reported. The election of November 2020 was suspenseful in terms of who would be elected could potentially determine vital living situations for people all across the United States, whether it be immigrant status, being a person of color, or not being able to afford paying for housing in general. Financial troubles took over the country and the stimulus checks were not enough to cover housing, food, home essentials, especially when some dependents and entire families were not able to receive help because of their citizenship or dependent status. Many tried to turn towards their faith, the keyword being “tried.” Although not all religions focus on gatherings or physical objects, many people were unable to get access to these common preferred forms of practice and felt that virtual gatherings seemed ingenuine or illegitimate. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had many more severe effects on a global scale in all aspects of life. From concerns of the health of others, oneself, finances, practice of faith, and fear of safety in your own home, the negative effects are consistent as it seems that everything continues to pose a threat to daily living. I hope that everything eventually falls back into place and that justice is put in place so that people do not have to fear their own existence. -
2021-04-11
Alarm grows over impact of states banning trans youth treatment
Medical experts and LGBT advocates are sounding the alarm over the physical and mental health risks to the transgender community after at least 19 state legislatures, including Arkansas, have proposed or passed bills seeking to ban trans youth treatment. Proponents of the bills have argued that the legislation is in place to protect children from making irreversible decisions about their bodies. But earlier this week, doctors and LGBT organizations defended treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and warned about a potential increased suicide rate among trans youth if such legislation is enacted. -
2021-04-15
Another Victim of a COVID Economy
I have anxiety. It’s not uncommon, and I have coping mechanisms. One of the things that helps me not fixate on things out of my control is being active. So I run. And for the past six years, I have been very committed to “barre,” which is similar to Pilates. My barre studio is my respite from the world, one hour to focus just on myself and my muscles. And the supportive community is unlike any other I have been a part of (I’ve done boot camps, kickboxing, etc. and have never found anything like this.) Since exercise is crucial to my mental health, when the pandemic began, I knew I could not stop working out. Especially with a household of five suddenly being at home together 24 hours a day! I was extremely fortunate that my barre studio immediately transitioned online. In fact, all throughout this pandemic, I have held them up as my example of the exact right way to deal with this situation. They made a digital library, offered multiple daily live classes over Zoom, reopened as a hybrid. My barre classes have been the constant throughout this pandemic, especially before I returned to work in person. Up until a few weeks ago, my most consistent live interaction with adult humans not living in this house were my barre instructors and the other women in the classes. So when I opened my email and saw this message, it hit me like a ton of bricks. They couldn’t survive COVID-19. It makes sense - they had two studios before COVID and rent is not cheap in Orange County. I am, of course selfishly sad - where will I find a reasonably priced, low impact but high intensity exercise studio that is five minutes from both my daughter’s gym and our church? But my real sadness is for the small business owner who opened this studio eight years ago. She is truly passionate about physical and mental health and is probably one of the most positive people I have ever met. And in a way that doesn’t annoy you, which honestly is a gift. As people get excited about businesses reopening, it makes me reflect on how many more have had to close their doors permanently. -
2020-09
College Students During COVID
This is a story about how college student's mental health has been affected during COVID as a unique population. I wanted to include this to provide context about why my interviewee may have been reluctant to seek out resources due to the extra stress that he had been experiencing. This study goes into how the factors that college students, in particular, are experiencing. This article was done by a survey and shows how common these feelings are that may have deterred students from seeking help due to stress. -
2020-09-09
Crisis Line in a Pandemic
An article from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) about the importance of crisis phone lines to mental health in Indigenous communities