Write a letter to war
For example,
To War,
It is clear to me that you are destructive, dangerous and seriously traumatising. A sickness corrupts the minds of soldiers, corrupts their ‘memories’ and so prevents them from seeing anything else. Even after they come home they are trapped in an ‘eternal hell’, being punished every day for a fight they were forced to fight. For them, ‘war is never over’. Their ‘wounded souls’ have been damaged beyond repair and you are responsible. Nothing can fix them now; they are beyond human help. Why have they gone mad? What vile sights did you show them? Was it the blood of their friends spread all around them that drove them mad or was it the constant threat of gunfire? Only you would know which of your colours caused this.
Answers
Answer:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the Covid-19 pandemic as "a trauma for this country," and compared it to war, in a press conference Wednesday.
"I don't know that we've even fully appreciated all of the effects of the trauma that we've gone through," Cuomo said. "There's going to be PTSD from Covid."
In the face of a traumatic event like the Covid-19 pandemic, it's common to feel intense flashbacks, nightmares, irritability, anger and fear.
While many people associate post-traumatic stress disorder with something like war, it's a chronic psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a serious accident, terrorist attack or a physical assault.
After the SARS outbreak in 2003, both healthcare workers and people who were self-quarantined exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Covid-19 pandemic could have a similar effect, according to experts. Even if you aren't clinically diagnosed with PTSD, you may have a strong emotional reaction to the trauma of Covid-19 that can last long after an incident.
"When we think about traumatic events, it's not just what the event is, it's really your interpretation and what the event causes for you," Luana Marques, clinical psychologist and associate professor in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and president of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, tells CNBC Make It.
For example, healthcare workers providing frontline services, as well as people who have lost loved ones or jobs due to the disease may be at greater risk for developing long-term difficulties. Those who struggle with other mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression, or who have a prior history of trauma, may be at increased risk of more ongoing distress.
Even if you aren't directly affected by Covid-19, the pandemic has been a significant stressor on everyone's lives, Alyssa Rheingold, clinical psychologist and professor at the Medical University of South Carolina who specializes in trauma, tells CNBC Make It. Indeed, there could be long-term consequences to the stress, anxiety, and fear that has overwhelmed the globe for months.
While it's impossible to predict what life will look like in the future, there are some things we can do in the present to "flatten the mental health wave," Marques says. Here's what experts say you should be aware of how to prevent future issues:
Be aware of symptoms...
There are a number of symptoms that people can experience after a traumatic incident, including: invasive thoughts like nightmares or upsetting memories and flashbacks, being really stressed out or irritable, having trouble sleeping, Rheingold says. People often feel hyper-vigilant or have trouble concentrating. They may avoid thinking about an incident as a way of coping, too.
To be diagnosed with PTSD, someone would have a certain number of all these symptoms over a long period of time. But even if you're not diagnosed with full-blown PTSD, people can experience those symptoms after a traumatic or stressful event, she adds.
… and how long they last
It's normal to have an intense emotional response to a significant threat or traumatic incident like a pandemic, Marques says. But typically, symptoms tend to naturally recover over time.
"So, there's a huge bump in symptoms right away, and then about four months out of the trauma those symptoms get better on their own," she says.
However, sometimes the symptoms don't get better with time.
If you're still having symptoms that interfere with your daily life (meaning you feel paralyzed or like you can't do your job or sleep), then it's worth getting help from a therapist or mental health professional, she says. In fact, timing is key; PTSD can't be diagnosed until one month after a traumatic incident, Michele Bedard-Gilligan, associate professor at the University of Washington, who specializes in trauma, tells CNBC Make It.