The world has slowed down... and maybe that is a good thing for our mental health

I started this post last week and between the first draft and finalising it, I was startled to see an article in The Age that said suicide rates had actually decreased at this time. Taken from The Age (Aug 27 2020): “State Coroner John Cain on Thursday released fresh data on the number of suicide deaths between January 1 and August 26, showing there were two fewer suicides in Victoria compared with the same time last year”. This confirmed some of my suspicions that life before Covid 19 was, for many, not perhaps any more rosy than life with Covid 19. This takes me back to my original musing: While talking to a client last week it occurred to me that we are more accustomed to the sort of overlay of stress caused by Covid 19 than we may realise. In fact, it has almost felt like we have exchanged one form of stress (the pressure of societal expectations that often leave us feeling “less than” or “not good enough”) for another form of stress (the uncertainty and unknown of a new world). And maybe this is not all bad news.

A lot has been said about the negative effects of Covid 19 on our mental health and to be sure, there has certainly been a decline in some of my clients’ mental health. And calls/contacts with mental health services such as Beyond Blue and Lifeline have undoubtedly increased. In my experience this has been predominantly due to the inability to connect with loved ones and for many, engaging in meaningful activities, but also because of a lack of perceived control in an environment where, perhaps we are only just starting to realise, we never really had control in the first place. And these effects are real and worrying concerns individually and as a society.

There is, though, also almost an unwritten assumption here that we weren’t headed for some worldwide mental health crisis anyway. Research conducted well before Covid 19 emerged would tell us that depression was predicted to become one of the highest contributors to the global burden of disease in coming decades.

The fact that Covid 19 also provides us with the opportunity to step back from the fear of being left behind (FOBLB), the fear of missing out (FOMO), the fear of not being good enough (FONBGE) is perhaps one of the unrecognised mental health benefits of the current situation.

Many of my clients have responded well, if not thrived, under the current conditions and the mechanisms by which this has occurred has piqued my curiosity. Initially I thought that it was their resilience, developed through months and years of psychological support: the ability to utilise all of those strategies we had been working on so diligently. And, yes, I do think there is a strong element of this. Then I moved to the view that those same clients had been through such stressful times in the past that there was almost a stress inoculation effect - that is, experience of past stressors allowed them to manage current stressors more easily. Over time (and yes - we have been under various forms of Covid 19 restrictions since mid March 2020 in Melbourne!) and questionning of those same clients, it has become evident to me that many of them have felt the “psychological load” of society expectations lifted under Covid 19. We no longer have to look at social media posts of friends and family who are just that bit more successful (or so it seems) than us going to Bali, Hawaii or Europe on extended holidays. We don’t have to worry about what people will think if we prefer to stay at home on a Friday night and watch Netflix. We certainly don’t have to worry about presenting ourselves in the best light at all times. The only thing I have noticed on Facebook these days are callouts for best local takeaway and my son getting his “Ps” was awarded 32 comments and numerous likes - something usually only reserved for special occasions or amazing holiday pics! and on Instagram I find myself following pages that tell me how to organise my cutlery drawer or (less so now in Wave 2 lockdown) friends making sourdough bread.

The world as we know it has slowed down. We are driving less, flying less, travelling less, eating out less, doing kids activities less and it is okay to just go for a walk, read a book, do a puzzle, play a game, get more sleep. And while there is no doubt that this is a stressful period, perhaps it is just a different type of stress than we had already become accustomed to. Maybe over time, and with the right supports, those in our community who are experiencing distress due to the current Covid 19 situation will come to recognise the benefits a reduced “psychological load” may have on their mental health and with it a renewed sense of wellbeing, perhaps not dissimilar to what we know as post-traumatic growth.

Lori