María González-Aller: "COVID-19 forces us to manage many losses"

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic They are being deeper than what could be expected from a crisis originating in the medical and health field.

Such is the depth of the mark that it is leaving in our society that we can already speak of a context that changes our way of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The psychologist María González-Aller Zavala has been paying attention to these types of changes in the way people behave and in the investigations carried out in this regard, and in this interview she talks to us about what is known so far about the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of women people.

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Interview with María González-Aller: The effects of the pandemic on psychological health

Maria González-Aller Zavala She is a psychologist specializing in the clinical and mental health fields, and she practices in the Majadahonda and Las Rozas area, where she cares for adults and adolescents. In this interview she talks to us about the way in which the COVID-19 crisis is psychologically influencing us as a society.

In situations of health crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, does society tend to underestimate the importance of ensuring psychological health at times like this?

In moments of crisis, basic needs prevail that are related to physical integrity, guided by our instinct for protection and survival. Our first need would be to protect ourselves, protect our own and have food at our disposal.

We respond in the same way as millions of years ago, when we would have gone into our refuge with some game. Currently, however, it is money that guarantees that subsistence. And in these conditions psychological health is in the background.

The irruption of the pandemic has been something unexpected and yet it has had significant repercussions for practically the entire world. Do you think that the need to adapt to this new reality exposes us more to anxiety disorders?

Without a doubt, it exposes us more, but that does not mean that it affects us equally, nor that it affects everyone as a disorder. Anxiety is a very important emotion linked to that survival, it is a reaction of our body in the face of a threat that helps us fight or flee when our integrity detects an alarm, a danger. Thanks to it we develop many resources to adapt in the best way to the environment.

When we do not understand what is happening to us and we do not understand the symptoms that appear, it can lead to problems because we begin to develop fear of that anxiety and a tendency to avoid situations. In this way it can become a disorder.

Addictions are surely also experienced in a very different way in these months, both in confinement and post-confinement situations. Could isolation and the fact of having several sources of discomfort and worry facilitate relapse or even the development of addictions in those who had never been "hooked" on anything?

It is very easy that this situation has caused relapses, or the beginning of an addiction, by increasing anxiety. Above all, there has been an increase in the consumption of alcohol, sugar, processed foods and new technologies.

On the other hand, the greater difficulty of access to certain substances, or to social areas that favored being within their reach, has made it necessary to reduce certain consumption on occasions.

And as for the other large group of more frequent psychological problems, mood disorders such as depression or dysthymia, would you say that the The coronavirus crisis will affect more people, or in general we will adapt our emotions to this new context more or less spontaneously and without aid?

The situation is generating a lot of mood problems because COVID-19 forces us to manage a lot of losses, at all levels. Personal, economic losses, of projects and illusions, of routines... The vast majority of people have been affected, to a greater or lesser extent.

Loss breeds sadness. And this emotion, like all, needs to be elaborated in order to adapt. The confinement situation has forced us not to be able to count on social support resources, so necessary for this elaboration.

With regard to personal losses, not having been able to stay with the disease, or say goodbye to our loved ones, makes it very difficult to grieve. This situation makes the help of mental health professionals much more necessary to be able to carry it out in the best way.

Regarding family and partner relationships, what do you think the effects could be? most frequent psychological effects that the pandemic produces in our way of living together and interacting with others?

Family and couple conflicts have been exacerbated, derived from living together and all the problems that existed previously. Regarding interactions with others, a logical distancing and greater distrust are generally observed.

The couple crisis is one of the most notable effects. The number of separations has skyrocketed. And there are many cases in which wanting to end a relationship, it is discarded due to not being able to have the necessary economic or social resources.

As a psychotherapy professional, what challenges have you faced to adapt to this context marked by the spread of the virus and the fear of new waves of contagion?

Online therapy is the best resource to use in psychotherapy right now. My challenge is to convince those people who, due to ignorance, do not believe that it is as effective as face-to-face therapy.

The greatest advantage is safety against contagion, both for patients and professionals, by avoiding being exposed.

In the short term, what can a psychologist or a psychologist do to help people who are going through bad times for reasons related to the pandemic?

In the short term, the most important thing is to be able to give an outlet and help manage all the emotions experienced and learn strategies to solve all those problems. It is essential to offer an environment of trust in which to validate and sustain emotions.

And in the long term, what are the benefits of going to therapy if it is needed in the face of everything that is happening?

In the long term, the most important thing will be to have been able to learn and grow personally from all these difficult experiences.