Humans starved for touch during COVID pandemic
Consequences of extended isolation only beginning to be felt, and they can be dire
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When Dr. Joseph Varon offered a gentle embrace to a patient who was spending his Thanksgiving sick and alone in a Houston hospital, he did more than comfort the elderly man — he inadvertently offered a reminder of what the world has lost. Or rather, what the pandemic has taken away.
As an image of the heartwarming moment quickly went viral, criss-crossing the globe faster than the virus that made it possible, it laid bare not only the best of humanity, but what it actually means to be human. Social distancing, masks and isolation — all vital tools in efforts to combat COVID-19 — have deprived people of the benefits of human contact and the consequences of that loss are only beginning to be felt.
“He was very sad because he's in a room where he knows nobody,” Varon told Good Morning America of the patient, who wasn't identified. “We come in dressed like astronauts, and even though I usually have my picture with me so they can know who I am when I go to see them, it's very frustrating for the patients and he was very emotional.”
“And just when I heard (his emotion), I hugged him.”
The touching moment, seldom seen as society shifts from handshakes and hugs to awkward waves and elbow bumps, is food for the soul.
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“Human beings are wired to touch and be touched,” said Asim Shah, professor and executive vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, according to the Texas Medical Center. “When a child is born, that's how they bond with their mother — through touch. Our wiring system has touch everywhere, so it's difficult for us not to think about physical contact.
“When someone is (touch) starved, it's like someone who is starved for food. They want to eat, but they can't. Their psyche and their body want to touch someone, but they can't do it because of the fear associated with, in this case, the pandemic.”
This inability to meet a basic human need can have dire consequences, particularly in a health care setting.
“There's this whole body of literature around the stress response and how chronic stress literally impairs everything from brain functioning to your immune system,” says Amy Banks, a psychiatrist based in Lexington, Mass., and author of Wired to Connect: The Surprising Link Between Brain Science and Strong, Healthy Relationships.
“When you're under a lot of stress, cortisol is released and your immune system tanks, allowing you to get sicker.”
As Shah said, when someone is (touch) starved, it's like someone who is starved for food. This is partly because human survival has long relied on establishing and living in social networks.
“Biologically, our whole nervous system and immune system functioning became dependent on being in a relationship, a society, a community, where the younger, smaller, weaker could be protected until they grew up,” Banks says.
The connection that develops between mother and infant during these first few years of development is essential to future relationships because it helps build pathways for serotonin — an anti-pain and depression chemical — that will be vital later in life.
“The touch, the holding and cuddling are all shown to stimulate these pathways needed for connection,” says Banks.
There's no guarantee society will ever return to the carefree days of the past, where affection was freely shown and shared through human touch, but in the meantime, Varon continues to work around the clock to keep his patients feeling safe and loved.
He said his now-famous patient is “doing great” and should be released later this week.
“I was feeling sad, just like him, and I was just recollecting all the patients that I have had to do similar things with,” Varon said. “The patients get so sad, some of them cry, some of them try to escape. We actually had somebody that tried to escape through a window the other day. They're so isolated, they really want out.”
Human beings are wired to touch and be touched. When a child is born, that's how they bond with their mother — through touch.