The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Seeing a chance to help others in a pandemic
This past week I turned to two people who are in “the trenches,” helping others cope with mental health issues being exacerbated by COVID-19.
First I called my old friend Paul Hammer. Sixteen years ago on a May day atop the summit of East Rock, he tried to kill himself by jumping off the cliff.
His miraculous survival and successful battle against depression launched him on the road to helping others with similar issues. He told me: “As a survivor of suicide I’ve made it my life’s mission to work with persons who are at risk.”
Hammer is now a recovery support specialist who co-facilitates two mental health support groups. He also works at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health.
When I told him I wanted to write a column about mental health problems during this pandemic, he contacted Dr. Aniyizhai Annamalai to join in our discussion. She is an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale’s School of Medicine and Department of Internal Medicine. She also directs the Wellness Center at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven.
The two of them agreed to meet with me last Wednesday at CMHC to talk about what they’ve been seeing in our increasingly troubled population.
Maybe you have seen the news reports. The Census Bureau, after studying the effects of the pandemic, reported in June that about one-third of American adults have symptoms of clinical anxiety or depression.
Also: Two weeks ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll showing that for the first time a majority of American adults, 53 percent, believe the pandemic is taking a toll on their mental health. The percentage is even higher, 68 percent, for Black people.
And this: Digital platforms such as Crisis Text Line and Talkspace reported spikes in calls throughout the spring months.
“Sometimes everyone can be paralyzed by fear,” Hammer noted. “But it’s more likely with somebody who has anxiety and depression.”
Recalling the impact of these past six months with the omnipresent virus, Hammer revealed one of his friends had contracted it and died. A second friend recovered.
“I have to say I recently experienced the first panic attacks I’d ever had in my life,” he said. “I couldn’t attribute it to anything, so I thought: perhaps this does have to do with COVID. I wasn’t comfortable staying
in the space in my apartment. I felt trapped. Fortunately I was able to get some relief by just going outside and sitting on my porch. I was able to breathe. But others in my position might have needed more intervention. Some of that can be done remotely but it’s a challenge.”
Annamalai agreed COVID-19 “has caused more depression or exacerbation of symptoms if they already have anxiety or depression. The economic effects of the virus, losing jobs can make it much more pronounced.”
She said it has become more difficult to reassure patients because it’s impossible to predict the future course of this virus. (“When will it end? When will things be normal again?”) And now it’s tougher for outpatients because, by necessity, “we are trying to engage with them remotely. We’re doing a lot more phone and video conversations.”
Annamalai said a CMHC cooking group is now meeting remotely. She noted, “The fact they can’t physically be part of things has affected some of our outpatients adversely.” But she said the staffers still take inpatients (there are about 36) and outpatients to a community garden near the center.
Annamalai, who is overseeing CMHC’s response to COVID-19, said, “My job has become preventing COVID” at that site. She helps monitor people who come in from the outside and protects those inside.
“We’ve taken all the precautions and we’ve been very lucky,” she said. She reported that no inpatients have contracted the virus. A few outpatients have had it but CMHS was not the source. “A handful of staffers did get it, but from someone in the community, not in the center.”
When I asked if her job has become more stressful, she replied, “It’s definitely gotten much busier. So, yes, it is more stressful.”
On the homefront, she said, “I do try to get a good night’s sleep. For the most part I am able to do that. I’m staying close to my husband but I haven’t seen my parents for several months. They live in Illinois.”
Annamalai added, “I talk to my co-workers who are going through the same thing. I’m not on the front line, dealing directly with
“I recently experienced the first panic attacks I’d ever had in my life. I couldn’t attribute it to anything, so I thought: perhaps this does have to do with COVID.” Paul Hammer, a recovery support specialist at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health.
COVID patients. That brings a sense of guilt that I’m not doing as much. I get reassured by my colleagues that what I’m doing is important.”
Hammer gave me some examples of what he has observed in his support groups. “There’s a senior citizen whose son told her: ‘We can’t see you, you can’t see your grandchildren. You’re vulnerable; we don’t want to expose you.’ This has exacerbated her depression.”
Hammer said another member of one of the groups is a massage therapist. Although she was finally allowed to reopen, “Many of her clients are afraid to be in close quarters. Now her government assistance has run out. She doesn’t know where to turn to support herself.”
Hammer added, “I’ve heard instances where people are stuck inside with each other in abusive relationships. Before the pandemic they could at least go off to work.”
Hammer said his support work “has given me a sense of purpose and made it easier for me to navigate through these times. But now I’m experiencing uncertainty: I have to find a new place to live. My work in improvisational theater gives me some skill in dealing with the unexpected!”
He said that despite the mental health issues people are facing, “I’ve seen a lot of resilience. People are delivering food to each other. People are checking in with one another as buddies. We need a national buddy system. We need to have at least one person who checks in with somebody regularly. That makes a difference to somebody in isolation. One or two daily calls seems like a small thing but it’s not.” Hammer said he has started doing this.
When our discussion turned toward how the pandemic can help reform health care in America, Annamalai said, “This has made it more obvious what we need, starting with care for the seriously mentally ill. People deserve it. We have been shown the lack of resources many patients have, that they need access to medical services.”
“More Latinos and Blacks have been affected (by COVID-19),” she noted. “More of them are on the front lines in jobs they have to do and with less access to health care. These are inequities we always knew but this is a reminder of these deficiencies in our system.”
“We should use this as a time to push for more services for mental and physical health,” she added. “I think this is an opportunity of a lifetime. If a pandemic doesn’t bring about change, what will?”
Annamalai is regularly working to cheer up people who are in despair over the ongoing pandemic. “To people who are suffering it feels never-ending. It doesn’t look like it now but the end is in sight and it will come.”