By Hugh Winig, M.D.
Dr. Winig is a retired psychiatrist and a longtime OLLI @Berkeley member and volunteer
It has been quite some time since we have all had to adjust to a “new normal” caused by the pandemic. In fact, it has been over two and a half years. Most people can now work remotely all or some of the time, and it’s remarkable how much can be accomplished without the previous in-person requirement, thus saving commute time and energy. With much of our local community fully vaccinated, continued vigilance, but to a much lesser degree, seems to be the word of the day.
However, a significant negative emotional impact from the pandemic lingers and has the potential to become chronic and itself an epidemic. Longstanding diminished in-person human contact has left many people feeling emotionally detached and deprived of the basic need for being in the physically intimate presence of others. Our social fabric has been torn and some people feel grief, stress, and despair. Consequently, many people continue to suffer from a persistent and significant degree of anxiety and depression from this deprivation.
Humankind is an inherently social species which requires more than food, clothing, and shelter to thrive. Humans need love, affection, friendship, mutual understanding, physical closeness, and a sense of community to flourish. Sadly, much of this has been diminished throughout the pandemic and potentially will persist for those people who do not readjust and return to what had previously been normal in-person human connections. And the likelihood of continuing Covid variants emerging during the next several years, making it endemic, will require that we learn to normalize in-person relationships and social activities as much as possible to avoid these negative psychological impacts while still protecting our physical well-being.
Many children and adolescents who under normal conditions would have matured and flourished report “losing themselves” and not knowing who they are as their normal identity formation has been stymied due to the pandemic’s required social isolation. This physical isolation in many cases has been compounded by the excessive use of cell phones and immersion into the internet, isolating them even more from in-person human connectiveness. These combined isolating impacts has led to stunted emotional growth during these crucial developmental stages, which has the potential for becoming permanent.
Sharing ideas, feelings, and being deeply connected to friends is essential to normal emotional maturation for everyone, including us seniors. This must be understood, appreciated, and addressed for one’s normal emotional health to become reestablished. While residual limited in-person human connectedness due to continued wariness from the Pandemic is understandable and appropriate, this must now be balanced with an appreciation that returning to normal in-person social and cultural events is equally important if our lives are to be fulfilling and meaningful.
Just as people take some risk any time they drive a car, one does not stop driving because of this, but of course they should drive safely and with caution. Similarly, reestablishing needed in-person social connectedness as the pandemic lives on in its milder form should become the norm. Finding that sensible middle ground is the challenge of the day so that each of us can emotionally thrive as our lives move forward!
Hugh Winig, M.D. is a retired psychiatrist, the author of a book of short stories and a book of humanistic aphorisms. He was a founding Trustee of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center and a past President of the East Bay Psychiatric Association. He is a longtime OLLI @Berkeley member and volunteer.