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How to keep your sanity when you feel like the world is going crazy:
Hi there. How are you feeling today?
It's a loaded question right now. Many of us are having extraordinary feelings in response to extraordinary times. Hundreds of millions of people here in the United States and around the world are doing their best to help contain the spread of novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 by following World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control guidelines and, bluntly, staying the heck away from other people.
Even for a born introvert like yours truly, the era of prolonged, enforced social distancing is hard. Folks are either stuck at home alone, stuck at home with their families, or still having to go out into the world every day to work—either because their work is vital or their employers are being stubborn—and all the while, we're being buffeted by government warnings and endless waves of frightening news.
In short: right now, we're all exchanging some measure of our mental health in order to preserve our own and others' physical health, and that has limits. We're all in this together, for several weeks and months, if not longer, and basically, we need to avoid driving ourselves and each other crazy if we're going to get through it.
That, of course, is easier said than done. To that end, we called up mental health experts to ask what, realistically, we should all be doing to help ourselves and others.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @03:53AM (32 children)
I miss my mind the most.
WTF? What's up with all the freakout?
I mean, I get it. People are scared, but we know what to do.
Best case scenario is that millions worldwide will be infected and tens of thousands will die. Note, that's the *best* case scenario here.
Panicking will only make things worse.
How can one maintain their "sanity" in these uncertain times? With big doses of the *truth*, and strong leadership to help us "flatten the curve."
We've been getting (at least where I live) lots of the former and a fair amount of the latter. Which is good, since something like 1/3 of the confirmed US cases are where I live.
What we're not getting is the support we need from the Federal government. They were woefully unprepared (which we've known for *years* [time.com]) and were very slow to get started when it became obvious (six weeks ago) to pretty much the entire Public Health community that we were in for a bad time.
We got no leadership, no preparations, no actions to bolster our ability to handle this pandemic from the Feds until last week. Rather, we got weaseling and claims of "hoaxes" and other *lies* to deflect responsibility. Apparently, unlike Harry Truman, the buck does *not* stop at the White House any more.
Which is certainly additional cause for trepidation and concern. However, we're in the middle of it now and we don't have the luxury of fighting one another over political points.
What we need is for us to recognize that if we want to save lives, we need to work together to slow the spread of infections and push hard to get the equipment and materials we need to treat seriously ill patients and protect healthcare workers.
Panicking does none of that. Consider this the slap in the face to stop you from freaking out. Get a grip and let's work together to create the "best case scenario" I referred to above.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @04:09AM (12 children)
I'm guessing most people at least in the back of their minds understand that. However in addition to that, we have our governments saddling millions of us with mass unemployment and house arrest. The edicts change by the hour. That, I guarantee you, is where the real freakout among the people comes from.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @04:24AM (1 child)
And to be clear, our civil rights have been suspended. That is very disconcerting to Americans who grew up believing we had "natural" rights of free speech and movement.
Say you suffer from government intrusion on your rights. Even if you could get a hearing in these times, the judge may just throw out your case and tell you to STFU because "national emergency".
Completely unrelated, I'm watching TV and half the commercials seem to be for paper cleaning products which are unavailable at the local store.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @07:04AM
Not much point to the blue bears fondling all that toilet paper when it's not in the store!
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @04:32AM (3 children)
House arrest? You mean mandatory quarantine for infected people? Or do you mean self-isolation because someone has been exposed to someone who tested positive?
Personally, I don't want those folks out in the street. Nor should you -- they'll just get more people sick faster, overloading our already stretched medical resources.
Or are you talking about "shelter in place" directives? I don't know about where you live, but that's not "house arrest." That's stay away from other people. Go to the store/pharmacy/doctor if you need to do so, go out and get exercise too -- just *stay away* from other people.
Which means exercising alone (running/biking?), but no *team* sports/games. It means don't use public transportation unless it's absolutely necessary.
That's most certainly not *house arrest*, unless you've been confirmed to be infected -- which isn't really enough, the experts say we should isolate those folks from the community -- as China did, by force in some cases. There's none of that here.
Stop freaking out about shit that just isn't true! We have enough to worry about without spreading misinformation.
As for the job losses and economic impact, that's going to be a *huge* problem in the US. Most people don't have even a couple months of expenses saved up.
Strong action needs to be taken, and some states are doing just that, by requiring paid sick leave, expanding unemployment benefits, restricting banks and landlords from foreclosing/evicting people who can't pay and restricting utilities from cutting off electricity/gas/water/Internet during this crisis.
But we need strong leadership from the Federal government and we're not getting it yet.
So yes, you're right. There are plenty of things to worry about, but freaking out isn't going to resolve those issues. And spreading misinformation just makes things worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:05AM (1 child)
What you call misinformation is reality in Italy, and soon will be reality in your state.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:15AM
Doubtful.
You must not be an American.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Monday March 23 2020, @05:03PM
In at least one state, home confinement ("house arrest") includes breaks for necessary errands and going out to the yard for exercise.
After a friend of a friend came down with a fever and cough I put myself on a no-groceries lockdown. That's stricter but of course justified.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 23 2020, @06:50AM (5 children)
You wish it's only that. Those "stimulus packages" of over trillion? When this is over, they'll need to be paid back one way or another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by black6host on Monday March 23 2020, @11:53AM
That's ok. I'm sure those corporations and people with all the money will be more than happy to to help pay it back. /s
When the bill comes due things are going to change even more for the majority of us. I doubt it will be for the better.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @03:43PM (1 child)
No. It is money legislated into existence. It will be "paid back" in form of all of our savings being diluted by the resulting inflation.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 23 2020, @10:16PM
One way or another. We're living on the expense of the future (and it seems the future just called our bluff).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by Teckla on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:34PM (1 child)
Fortunately, during the good times, we did the fiscally responsible thing, and paid down the debt, so that we'd be prepared for the inevitable economic downturn.
Oh, wait...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:41PM
Wish I had a "+1 Sad but true" modding option.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Interesting) by edIII on Monday March 23 2020, @04:40AM (7 children)
The reason have to be panicking is precisely what you laid out. Complete and total lack of leadership at the top. Outright lies, although I guess we call them "fervent wishes" to be kind. "Truth" is not coming from the top, and those we can trust (the doctors) are sounding the alarm bells louder and louder. Instead of the law being used to fund private companies making what we need (wartime powers), none of those orders have been given. We have Senators more interested in dumping stock, participating in political theater that there is no real threat, and buying up teleworking companies. Half the government goes along with an insane child that believes a virus is a political weapon aimed at him. Question him about it, and you're a nasty person interested in sensationalism.
Trump may bullshit his supporters, but he can't bullshit the stock market. We've never seen anything like this since 1929. Nothing on the horizon to to make it better.
The "I'm not responsible" attitude, combined with desperate pleas for medical supplies from governors who get rebuked because of optics, desperate please by doctors and scientists, and we're all left with a scary fucking truth. We don't have a real president, and now it's showing more than ever. This is not fighting over political points, but pointing out that there is an entire side bereft of any confidence whatsoever in the future. That cannot be fixed by anything less than a new president, or the removal/death of the current one.
Has the administration or Congress figured out the bailout has to be Main Street this time? We've been pushed too far, and our society was already in a fragile state. More fragile than we care to admit, both physically with our infrastructure and social safety nets, and mentally. There is no morale left.
Panick? It would help to have reasons to believe in the future. Continuing reports by the CDC, doctor's associations, the Faucci guy, and plenty of sources completely non-partisan, all paint a scary ass picture desperate for leadership. Obama could've given us some confidence at least. Even his most fervent detractors would've believed Obama could've handled this better. So would Bush. You know who definitely would've had the leadership nailed? Reagan.
We don't have a real president. It's an actual fact, and while there are many Trump supporters desperate to not acknowledge this, or happy with the ends justifying the means, they're not fooled either. I'm sure that has an awful lot to do with the economy, and mental stress, of every American. This isn't a dirty fight over control over our politics anymore, or religion controlling the Alphabet people, or how to fix our government. We're dealing with an incredibly serious problem, one as serious as world War II an any invasion of American soil. We're at war with a biological threat, and no longer have the luxury for internecine bullshit. The asteroid is 113 days away, and time keeps getting shorter.
I've already gone through my five stages for this country. I'm at acceptance that our country already hit critical failure and died when checks and balances abjectly and utterly failed us. The top of the country is wholly owned by an incredibly corrupt and brazen group that flaunts the lack of accountability now. The Justice department is owned by the Emperor now, and it interferes with investigations and squashes justice. Our checks and balances are unable to remove the cancer within. It was truly the moment of death for our social experiment, our America.
This feels like the beginning of the end of society, and maybe many societies around the world. I've come to terms with that. It's not panick anymore, just grim acceptance that this is our world now.
I just take things one day at a time. Like I suspect anyone does in the dystopic movie that is our world now.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @04:53AM
Yep. You're mostly spot on.
But as I said:
I'm over 50 but don't have any underlying conditions or a compromised immune system, so I'll probably be okay.
But I also have an elderly mother and other family members who are older or have compromised immune systems. I'm scared for them, and for others in the same boat. Which is why, regardless of the lack of leadership from the Federal government, I'm glad that many states are pushing hard to *slow down* the spread of the virus.
And most people seem to be on the same page too. We don't want our fellow Americans to die. If we can slow the spread enough, we can actually save lives. I can't speak for anyone else, but I believe that's a worthy goal.
Fuck Trump and fuck anyone else who makes the suffering of our fellow humans worse. We're better than that. Many, many people are rising to the occasion and that gives me hope.
But hope isn't always enough -- I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:17AM (4 children)
I'll just leave this here:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/ [foreignpolicy.com]
Note that the article above was published on 31 January, a full *six weeks* before jackass started taking this seriously and stopped calling it a Democratic hoax.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @11:16AM (3 children)
This man on Twitter looks and sounds like a doctor and he finds the virus suspicious: https://mobile.twitter.com/ROHLL5/status/1241900290783109121 [twitter.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @08:17PM (2 children)
So you're linking to a Twitter expert? Don't you have something better to do?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:27AM (1 child)
The video was posted by someone who was retweeted 7 times by @realdonaldtrump who has 75 million followers.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:14PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by digitalaudiorock on Monday March 23 2020, @02:33PM
While that's mostly true, I found this little bit of optimism (from someone who knows what they're talking about) interesting:
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-22/coronavirus-outbreak-nobel-laureate [latimes.com]
While he clearly thinks the current social distancing is critical, his take on how this will play out is less dire than other predictions, and his previous predictions seem to have panned out.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday March 23 2020, @05:32AM (8 children)
WTF? What's up with all the freakout?
The bill collector. Who is going to stop them?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:23AM (6 children)
Strong action needs to be taken, and some states are doing just that, by requiring paid sick leave, expanding unemployment benefits, restricting banks and landlords from foreclosing/evicting people who can't pay and restricting utilities from cutting off electricity/gas/water/Internet during this crisis.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday March 23 2020, @07:38AM (5 children)
That comment is both reassuring and depressing. Outside the US, national governments are directing virus response policy in a coordinated manner. In the US it's the luck of the draw about how your state governor is going to handle things, some are handling it well, others badly. Real leadership from the top, rather than random press statements often contradicted minutes or hours later, is almost entirely absent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @09:20AM
> Outside the US, national governments are directing virus response policy in a coordinated manner.
hmmmm, get informed.
(Score: 4, Informative) by SpockLogic on Monday March 23 2020, @12:54PM (3 children)
I don't F'n think so. My daughter is an RN at a leading teaching hospital in London. Her surgical ward has been turned over to treating coronavirus patients and they are very sick. The staff are running out of PPE and the morgue is nearly full. She said that British PM Bojo is living in an alternate reality just like our orange shit gibbon. Here in the US we are about two or three weeks behind the UK. It's going to get a lot worse, an F'n lot worse before it gets better.
I find gallows humor is the best medicine so I made myself a new ringtone from REM's "It's The End Of The World".
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @09:19PM
No one outside UK thinks that they have real government right now (not even half of the people in UK) with that buffoon on the top.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:58AM (1 child)
After the US, the UK has probably the second-worst "leadership" in a crisis situation. I was talking about countries with actual leadership. Take for example Bulgaria, a... not very functional country where things sort of work some of the time. They activated 40-year-old Warsaw Pact bioweapons attack protocols and put some Major-General with an unpronouncable name in charge of running things, with the PM stepping back and letting those trained for it run the show. Given the limited resources and other limitations due to the fact that it's, well Bulgaria, they're actively responding and getting shit sorted as best they can. Fricken' *Bulgaria* has better leadership in this crisis than the most powerful country on earth, whose Covid19 czar wants to let Covid19 carriers back out in public ("Vice President Mike Pence indicated on Sunday at a White House briefing about the virus that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would issue new guidelines on Monday, allowing some people who have been exposed to the coronavirus to resume working outside their homes if they wear masks"), and whose leader is twittering about unproven drugs that he reckons are miracle cures.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:45AM
Here in Canada, it is the various "Chief Medical Officers", regional, Provincial and Federal that are doing a lot of the leading and getting as much public facing time as the politicians, who are mostly involved with the economic part.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 23 2020, @06:55AM
A big note on the door and window, reading "Active Corona inside. Stay out (or get those bottles to the bin)" (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Monday March 23 2020, @04:59PM
I've been relying heavily on principles from the Stoics.
One is to concentrate on dividing the world into things you do not control (government incompetence and idiots gathering in large groups) and things you do control (washing your hands, checking in on your neighbors, staying away from crowds). Then you (try to) put all your energy into the things you can control.
It's easier said than done but quite worthwhile.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Monday March 23 2020, @05:38PM
Disagree.
I lost my ball point pen! Yes, really. Not only have I lost my mind, but I lost my pen!. I LOST MY PLASTIC BALL POINT PEN !!!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.