The Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe has brought our modern political and health institutions to their knees. ‘Life as we knew it’ no longer refers to the nostalgia of years past, but of months past. The bright fireworks at the start of 2020 heralding the dawn of a new decade have long fizzled out, together with the innocent optimism that came with them.
It is a curious thing to watch our world fall apart so quickly in real time. The first mention of a lockdown in response to a new virus occurred on 23 January 2020, when China imposed a lockdown in the Hubei province. This was just days before the annual Chinese New Year celebrations — the most festive period in the Chinese calendar. Quickly the new virus spread across the world like octopus ink in clear water, and it wasn’t long before the whole world got sick.
How quickly did the virus spread? In less than 2 months from the first news about the lockdown in China, Italy became the first country in Europe to enter into a nationwide lockdown, averaging hundreds of deaths per day. Spain was next. Then the UK. And country after country followed.
The world awoke to a devastating new reality: lives lost, hospitals full, businesses shut, and public spaces closed. Going out with friends for a meal at a restaurant, once a fixture of daily life, became an act of incalculable risk. Visiting one’s grandparents went from being a gesture of love to potential manslaughter. Going to work with a sniffle, once a hallmark of the dutiful employee, became the pinnacle of social irresponsibility.
The world ‘as we knew it’ has changed almost beyond recognition.
The events of Covid-19 have taught the world that excessive negative speculation is the key to survival.
The pandemic also poses serious challenges to patients with anxiety disorders. Patients with anxiety disorders often struggle with over-thinking worst-case scenarios and ‘what-ifs’ that usually never come to fruition. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapy used by mental healthcare professionals to address this very issue — it works by training patients to think through life situations in a rational and positive way and to avoid excessive negative speculation.
However, the events of Covid-19 have taught the world that excessive negative speculation is the key to survival. Arguably, the worst-case scenarios for countries that were early hit by Covid-19 did indeed take place. When the first web of the virus was being woven across Europe, the groupthink was: It will go away. Then it became: It will not be that bad. And finally, when a full-blown public health emergency was taking place, it became: It is that bad and it will get worse beyond comprehension if we don’t do something drastic.
Countries that saw the then-nascent virus as something that could grow into an all-out catastrophe proved to be the most adept at dealing with the pandemic; countries that viewed the virus as ‘just another flu’ are now struggling to stem the bleed.
This sends a powerful, if unspoken, message across humanity: The worst-case scenario is not just plausible, but is, in fact, the most likely outcome. And the way to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening is to believe that it will happen if nothing is done and to take all-out precautions to stop it from happening.
This is the last line of thinking that patients with anxiety disorders need to hear. Constant jitteriness and uncertainty and the endless news cycle of death and disease have become the ‘new normal’. Like a virus, anxiety has mutated to take on a more ubiquitous form; it lurks silently beneath the shadows of everyday life, rising forward occasionally to claim new victims.
Even as months later, more and more countries begin to get the virus under control within their borders and life returns to some form of normalcy, the truce is a fragile one. As has been demonstrated in countries like Australia and China that had to reimpose lockdown measures after initial successes at controlling the virus, a full-scale public health crisis is always just around the corner, even if the virus seems to be defeated for the time being. A consensus has developed around the public health message for our time: Even if the virus figures begin to drop, maximum vigilance is required from the public; otherwise, this virus can and will spiral out of control once again. This ominous line of thinking has taken hold in our societies, with far-reaching consequences.
How do we respond to the mental health crisis that this virus is precipitating? First, mental health services need to have the political attention and the funding needed to combat the coming mental health wave; they must be robust and future-proof. Second, a cheerful stoicism needs to become part of the conversation. Hope and goodwill are potent weapons in this warfare, and they must abound.
A cheerful stoicism needs to become part of the conversation.
There is a famous line that is often quoted in soapy inspirational films — “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” This line of thinking must become gospel in the difficult days ahead. And by divine providence, may it also prove to be true.
