Covid Mental Health

I listened to Dr. Laura Murray, a psychologist at John Hopkins University discuss mental health issues caused by the pandemic (Covid Mental Health Q & A podcast). My big takeaway was the idea of humans processing the risk of contracting Covid-19 has moved from the acute stage (hurricane) to a chronic stage (car accidents). The mind perceives chronic risk differently that acute risk and we need to be aware of this. Most people when they get into a car do not think, X number of people die or are injured in vehicle accidents every year. For example, my family no longer wipes down all groceries before bringing them into the house. Other takeaways are as follows:

• Use self-disclosure to ease students into talking about their feelings, or perhaps instead of using the word feelings, use “thoughts” instead.
• Students are only being observed/interacting with their parents instead of a variety of adults like teachers and coaches.
• Recent CDC surveys are showing a higher rates of mental health issues during the pandemic and this is natural in these uncertain and stressful times.