Experts: psychological problems caused by the epidemic need to attract the attention of all parties

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Wang Chen-chen, a music psychotherapist at the psychology department of the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, instructs college students in the second community of Qinhuang Peninsula in Seaport District to experience music to reduce stress on May 24.

Since the beginning of winter, the Omicron virus has been spreading in many cities across the country. In order to achieve “dynamic zero” at the social level as soon as possible, many places have adjusted their policies on epidemic prevention and control, and the lives of many residents have been affected.

Xi Yingjun, director of the clinical psychology ward at Beijing An Ding Hospital, told CYN – CYN that it is found in outpatient clinics and in life that the number of people with psychological problems has increased significantly since the epidemic nearly three years ago than before. “This is a common phenomenon, no longer individual psychological problems, but social psychological problems, not only need to attract the attention of professionals, but also the attention of the government level.” Nishi Yingjun said.

In the three years since the epidemic, all groups in society have been under the constant stimulus of chronic stress, Sai Yingjun explained. The epidemic has clearly affected people’s normal social activities and brought great changes to everyone’s life, and everyone is constantly adapting to the various shocks that epidemic prevention and control brings to their lives. Although individuals are psychologically resilient and can adapt to changes and self-adjust to a certain extent, the persistence of stressors can cause negative emotions to accumulate, making it difficult for individuals to remain “calm” if an acute crisis event occurs, such as a community being sealed off or family members being transferred and isolated.

“Acute crisis events are like the last straw on the camel, easily triggering the outbreak of negative emotions.” Nowadays, many people face the double stimulation of chronic stress and acute crisis, so their emotional tolerance will be reduced and their ability to control their emotions will be weakened,” said Sai Yingjun. At this time, a trivial matter is likely to cause a strong emotional reaction, which can lead to social conflict, and it is easy to understand why some people’s hostility has increased and conflicts between neighbors have increased during the epidemic.”

He believes that the persistence of stressors causes people’s negative emotions to accumulate, and thus it is important to pay attention to these issues from the government level and face and deal with them objectively and rationally.

Yingjun Nishi pointed out that the emergence of psychological crises among people under the epidemic is often related to the practical difficulties encountered, and vulnerable groups are more deeply affected by the epidemic, such as the elderly, children, the physically ill and low-income people. When a person faces practical difficulties and stresses beyond his or her tolerance level and is unable to obtain sufficient resources to cope and solve them, a psychological crisis may arise, resulting in emotional disturbance and loss of control.

Thus, solving people’s psychological problems requires not only psychological crisis intervention, but more importantly, addressing the practical difficulties encountered by different groups, and this requires the joint efforts of government departments and grassroots organizations.

At the governmental level, it is important to see that the epidemic not only has a direct impact on people’s psychological well-being, but also brings negative psychological impact on people’s life due to the difficulties caused by the epidemic prevention and control. Therefore, the government should research, sort out and evaluate the real difficulties faced by the people, formulate relevant policies and guide the relevant functional departments to implement them, so as to relieve people’s difficulties and eliminate their worries.

At the same time, the government can make full use of social resources and mobilize the power of social groups to help people, such as buying medicine, groceries and course counseling, etc. Mental health service agencies are encouraged to open psychological hotlines to guide people with psychological problems to take the initiative to seek help and relieve their emotions with the help of psychology professionals.

He also suggested that the government should regularly invite multidisciplinary experts to conduct arguments, consider the contradiction between the health threat of the epidemic to the people and the impact of the current epidemic prevention and control measures on people’s lives, keep abreast of the times, and make timely adjustments to the epidemic prevention and control measures.

In terms of grassroots organizations, community organizations should know how to empathize with residents, see the problems from the residents’ standpoint, stand together with them and face difficulties together. Community workers should be people who are dedicated to the people and have the ability to build good relationships with residents and work together with them to accomplish their work.

What needs to be seen is that many community workers are overworked, and their psychology is easily affected and prone to emotional problems. Xi Yingjun suggests that grassroots community organizations should strengthen the psychological construction of community workers and invite psychology professionals to provide psychological counseling to community workers, so that they can communicate with community residents in a better state and let the community people feel the understanding and care from the organization.

According to Sai Yingjun, individuals also need to stay patient, try to maintain their inner stability, do things that make them happy, such as reading books, watching movies and dramas, communicating more with their families, spending time with their children, and carrying out social activities through the Internet, etc., so that there is an outlet for their emotions. When you find severe mood swings and increased negative emotions, you can seek help from a psychology professional with the help of a hotline.