Risk of battle fatigue in Covid-19 war
In WWI they called it cowardice. You did not have enough gravel in the gut and spit in the eye. By the time WWII came along medical science called it battle fatigue. A mix of the Stockholm Syndrome where you found comfort in your captor and surrendered to him along with a total mental breakdown, your synapses overloaded and on the verge of being short circuited.
Soldiers from the frontline were being shipped back suffering from mental disorders and were mired in depression. Some were incoherent while others had lapsed into a sort of comatose condition punctuated by nightmares, insomnia and a total disregard of oneself. Deeper understanding of the fallout from prolonged exposure to stressful life threatening activity and how it messed with the brain and the mind had now become a standard medical reality and cause for study in its many not so wondrous avatars.
Today this wide range of mental health issues has been renamed post traumatic stress disorder and is a legitimate condition.
But it is not only the battle scarred veterans who are inclined to fight the goblins in their minds. PTSD is across the board and has manifested itself in peacetime occupations as varied as the death of a loved one, an injury sustaining accident, a survival from near fatal events, precipitous loss of power, pelf and prestige, these are all valid elements and need to be addressed. No longer can they be as a sham or a ploy to duck a responsibility or bleed an event.
Pandemics qualify by the sheer force of their numbers, the arbitrary sledging of the innocent and the morbidity of handling the fallout of assaults and attacks, all in unprecedented circumstances for which they are not equipped.
As Covid-19 crosses well over 1.8-million mark and deaths more than 114,970 with no sign of abating, it has to become an imperative to prepare for a massive spike in PTSD cases.
Italy and Spain have already instigated mandatory counselling for survivors and their kin. As the numbers continue to rise the initial shock gives way to fear and disbelief quickly followed by rage and intolerance.
Every society is susceptible to being struck by this syndrome and along with the pressure on increasing supplies of medicines and medical equipment and staff, there has to be a commensurate acceptance of stress disorders and some way to mitigate the impact.
Just like the soldiers who witness so much mayhem and violence and death at its ugliest and become inured to it, literally becoming zombies, the courageous medical fraternity entrenched in the frontlines of
Today this wide range of mental health issues has been renamed post traumatic stress disorder and is a legitimate condition.
this war need support, understanding and more than just a shoulder to lean on. It can be assumed that enough of them will be scarred by the enormity of the pandemic to validate psychological and psychological support and treatment. Civil or military same difference.
By the same token the victims, the afflicted and the survivors are all vulnerable to a cerebral bruising. In the aftermath it makes sense to simultaneously create a psycho-medical infrastructure to absorb the sharply spiking numbers of those needing attention for the deterioration in their mental balance.
From survivor guilt to the shock of losing a loved one to dealing with an alien world in what will be a different normality, the one major impact of the unprecedented Covid-19 will be in the field of mental health. Depression, anxiety, and withdrawal are all par for the course.
For the now this might be an undervalued dimension but even in the nascent stages that the world faces presently there is rage and helplessness.
Even in our micro-lives we are beginning to notice a little raggedness post the confinement. A little less patience, snappiness, a drop in tolerance, a lack of energy and desire, a drop or rise in appetite, stomach cramps, intensified headaches, back spasms, these are all possibly rooted in stress.
Perhaps the immediate point of concern is the insidious manner in which we become blase and casual about protection and the rules. In this case when there is nothing new on Covid-19 and the information cycle repetitive, the mind switches off and we lower our guard.
Risks get taken because we cannot absorb any more data. Next thing you know that once-in-three-day trip to the supermarket has expanded to a daily visit, even more. A quick date for coffee with a ‘long time no see’ friend, a small birthday celeb, a refreshing drive with the bored kids, all become in order as we convince ourselves it’s acceptable conduct.
No, it is not, you are only making the fightback harder.