Thought of the day - May 29 - Coronavirus Getting You Depressed, Anxious ?

In the last little while I have been hearing more about the psychological effects of the coronavirus. I must admit when I first saw groups like "Anxiety Canada" flogging their wares, I had to chuckle. But then I dug a little deeper:

• Depression: If you look into depression you will see it takes almost 5,000 Canadians a year (about the same number folk who succumbed to Covid-19 by the beginning of May). If you think about the decades they had in front of them, the numbers are even more staggering (in contrast, quoted by Joe "sell-out" Rogan, "The average age of people who die from COVID-19 is older than the average age people die"). Moreover, anything that embellishes this condition: the loss of a job; the death of a loved one; having only limited access to a support network; or the anticipation of an uncertain future, will make the tragedy of depression even worse.

• Anxiety: We have all experienced anxiety to a greater or lesser extent; each of us have different triggers. We have spent weeks convincing ourselves we need to be worried about the coronavirus. We: closed our businesses; shut down our social/recreational groups; stopped seeing family and friends. Now, with very little changed other than that we know the threat is real, we are asked to: reopen our businesses; restart our service/recreation groups; expand our bubbles with families and friends. I, for one, am an "enemy at the door" type of guy. I love the stress, I love the unknown, I automatically invoke coping techniques such as this blog. But I must admit, I find the move to the "new normal" much more difficult.

So my message is simply, keep in mind the effects of the coronavirus are not only physical they are mental. Even more reason to make sure we come together in our cul-de-sac.

Please remember to reach out to those that could benefit from your support, and also to those that can support you.

Cheers

Cliff

P.S. While I am sure there are many more sources closer to home, here are a couple of tests that might be of use:

• Depression https://www.mdcalc.com/phq-9-patient-health-questionnaire-9

• Anxiety: https://www.mdcalc.com/gad-7-general-anxiety-disorder-7