During Wednesday’s Allen County Health Department coronavirus update, officials urged not only protection from the virus itself, but also to pay attention to your own mental health and condition of those you love.
Richard Ruhold with the Bowen Center says that we have all experienced a significant loss of control, and what we are feeling, collectively, is grief in the middle of an ongoing trauma.
"Our routines, our relationships, our work, our lives have just been turned upside down," he said. "We've all experienced a major loss of control."
Allen County Health Commissioner Dr. Deb McMahon says that the stress of the disease itself can also cause anxiety and mental health issues, not just in those who have had it, but in those who have cared for them, the health workers and the families of the sick.
"This is a beast. This illness is a very prolonged course. People are quite sick, and even when they survive, it's going to have an affect on the mental health of not only themselves, but their families," she said.
Ruhold urges people to be kind, not only to each other, but to themselves, and to recognize the spiritual component to help find meaning in this struggle.
"How can I take my spirituality and my values and put them into actionand put them into action for myself or someone else at this time?"
