Psychological consequences during and after the COVID-19 crisis

After so many days confined to home, with Easter holidays in between and endless housework, education, work to be carried out, change of schedule and new habits acquired in solitude, as a family and as a couple in our confinement, it will be time to return to the "normal".

I put quotation marks around it because psychologically it will not be normal. It will take a long time for us to regain the habits we had, because the word contagion will be marked in our mind, the word virus will be present. Living in a pandemic has activated our threat state in us, and that is not so easy to forget in days, weeks, months, even several years.

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The psychological mark left by the COVID-19 crisis

We have experienced a threat, and as such our body has prepared for it. We have been with our sympathetic nervous system working hard, in survival mode, with each news, in each conversation, in each question of your child at home, with each case of known people infected, and with thousands of questions in your head without sort out.

Many people ask us about certain symptoms that they are having these days; it is normal to have sleep and eating disorders, have moments of apathy and a certain level of anxiety, lack of concentration, feelings of loss of control, emotional distancing, unjustified mood swings... It is a process that we must go through until we reach an acceptance of what is happening.

Depending on the predisposition of each one, some negative psychological sequelae may develop due to the mark that this situation that we are experiencing leaves on us. For example, frozen duels (in many cases there has not been a goodbye to the loved one) or post-traumatic stress, going through outbreaks of hypochondria, phobias, cleaning OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), sleep problems, anxiety, depressive symptoms ...

The psychological effects generated by the coronavirus crisis are very diverseThat is why each of us will deploy our own resources to manage it, some innately and others with psychological help.

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Possible solutions

To start taking care of ourselves from home, it is important to find time to do some kind of relaxation, meditation, Mindfulness, slow breaths and deep... the key is to work and activate the other nervous system (parasympathetic), which is the one that paralyzes the alarm state of our body (system sympathetic nerves). This will improve and strengthen our health and our defenses against stress.

Deactivate your internal dialogue so as not to promote certain thoughts in your head It will help you prevent certain psychological consequences.

The option of online therapy

Now more than ever, is when online therapy is showing its effectiveness; The possibility of being able to continue having contact with our patients and that new people can perform online therapy is very useful.

Now more than ever, it is when it is necessary to prevent possible psychological consequences during and after confinement. Each of us will have a psychological imprint of this experience; This will be influenced by how we manage social isolation, uncertainty, emotional control that we have, tolerance to frustration, adaptability, flexibility psychological ...

Prevention and psychological therapy They will help us to have more resources and strategies to be able to overcome this situation without developing certain psychopathologies.