The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned among the most dramatic changes to Australian life in recent memory. We’ve needed to adapt to a vastly different lifestyle to curb the spread of the virus, featuring unfamiliar challenges similar to social distancing, mask wearing, and limits on gatherings and travel.
As Victorians specifically begin to emerge from “lockdown 2.0”, it’s timely to reflect on what will be learned from living through a pandemic, particularly the psychological experiences. Indeed, the pandemic has exposed some truths about human behaviour and the mind.
1. Australians are largely law-abiding people
As a nation, we tend to consider ourselves as happy-go-lucky “larrikins”. This term is supposed to explain our supposedly relaxed nature, irreverence, egalitarianism and self-deprecating sense of humour.
But during this pandemic, most of us have diligently followed the general public health rules similar to social distancing, wearing masks and observing curfews. Although we’d fancy ourselves as having a laconic disregard for rulesthe reality is we’re a law-abiding nation when it really counts.
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2. Women have been affected more by COVID-19
Many surveys show there are increased levels of tension, depression and deliberate self-harm in women in comparison with men in the course of the pandemic.
There’s also been “a rise in women presenting to mental health services who’re vulnerable to or experiencing family violence” in Australia, in response to the Women’s Mental Health Alliance.
The pandemic has underscored the inequalities between men and girls in Australia. These pressures include an increased burden on women coping with the role of home-based education of kids; women as nearly all of frontline health-care employees facing every day job pressures and risks of COVID-19 infection; and girls making up a big a part of the casual workforce facing increasing economic stress and the uncertainty of future employment.
3. We’re social animals
As highlighted by COVID-19 restrictions, prolonged social isolation can erode our sense of reality, self-worth and creativity. Reduced contact with other people could cause rapid acceleration of mental ill-health. The long-term health impacts of isolation are comparable to those of cigarette smoking and obesity.
Humans have evolved to live in groups with close and regular physical, emotional and verbal contact.
We depend on social connections to develop recent ideas and solve problems, to attain a wide range of goals by working together and for external validation of us as worthy individuals.
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4. Adaptation and resilience are among the many biggest human resources
As a nation now we have been in a position to quickly and flexibly develop online teaching curricula, perform many businesses from home and alter our way of socialising. We’ve also rapidly modified lots of our research programs to reply to the pandemic and potentially provide testing innovations, a vaccine, and recent ways to offer mental health support.
We’ve been in a position to do that because humans possess cognitive skills that enable us to change our culture and adapt to it. Indeed, many researchers have speculated humans could be probably the most flexible and adaptable species.
Part of that is our ability to be resilient. Resilience reflects the flexibility to keep up a stable equilibrium in a situation of threat or loss. Basically, to get back up after being knocked down.
5. We have to cultivate our mental health, not only avoid mental illness
Generally in Australia we’re used to an action-packed approach needed to fight crises similar to bushfires and wars. But during this crisis we’ve began to recognise the essential of other coping skills. These include self-reflection, using virtual ways to attach with others, and openly discussing our mental health.
Self-reflection helps to construct emotional self-awarenesswhich in turn results in a greater understanding of 1’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses and driving aspects.
We’re developing a greater awareness of the importance of fine mental health. Just as we’d maintain our physical health, we want to actively support our mental health, even when we don’t have a mental illness.