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For almost a year, we’ve been caught in an ongoing disaster. Unlike extreme weather events such as hurricanes or brief but intense tragedies like 9/11—events that might take years to recover from but are often limited to a short period of time—the COVID-19 pandemic has worn on without respite. While the development of multiple vaccines is a positive step, there's still no clear end in sight.
Although the usual mental health coping mechanisms can be helpful, many of us are reaching a point where we need something stronger. That’s where disaster psychology comes into play. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines disaster psychology as the practice of 'reducing initial distress and encouraging both short-term and long-term adaptive functioning after a disaster.' This is precisely what we need right now. Here’s how to use this approach to maintain (or at least preserve as much as possible) your mental health during the approaching pandemic winter.
How to implement disaster psychology during the pandemic
In typical disasters, people usually take on clear roles, either as survivors or responders. However, as Dr. Amy Nitza, the director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at the State University of New York at New Paltz, recently pointed out, COVID has created a unique situation where many individuals find themselves in both roles simultaneously. 'We’re training everybody [on] how to take care of themselves and how to support the people around them,' she shared in an interview with *Scientific American*.
*Scientific American* contributing editor Melinda Wenner Moyer’s full article is incredibly valuable and contains detailed strategies. This excerpt gives you a glimpse of how disaster psychology can be applied during the COVID pandemic:
When people are faced with traumatic situations, those who can identify early signs of mental distress, express their feelings, stay focused on the present moment, concentrate on what they can control, and find ways to connect with others, often emerge from the darkest times stronger and more resilient.
Similarly, there are important lessons to be learned from the concepts of collective trauma and grief that are relevant to the pandemic, but those are discussions we’ll save for another time.
