Loneliness, depression can increase with COVID isolation

The winter holidays have always been a potentially difficult time for people who live alone, live far away from family, or recently lost loved ones, and they can be especially trying for individuals who live year-round with mental illness.

Feelings of loneliness, sadness, and isolation can be normal among all humans during times of festive, celebrative holidays, mental health professionals say. These feelings, which can trigger onsets of depression and suicidal thoughts or worse, are now compounded for some individuals and their loved ones in Tuolumne County as the coronavirus pandemic stretches into its ninth month with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up fast.

Mary Leamy is president of the local chapter of the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness, known as NAMI Tuolumne County. She has 21 years of experience helping people live with mental illness and their family members. NAMI Tuolumne County offers all its services virtually via Zoom during the pandemic, to remain Covid-compliant.

Before anyone ever heard of coronavirus and COVID-19, it was common knowledge that agencies who offer support for people coping with mental issues and mental illness receive more calls for help in the winter months, Leamy said Tuesday evening in a phone interview.

“Definitely, we get more calls during the winter holidays, there’s no doubt about it,” she said. “Every year, people who are alone are more vulnerable to loneliness and sadness and depression. Everyone normally thinks about family members they’ve lost and they’re

not with them this Thanksgiving and this Christmas. It can be a very sad time.”

Leamy said simple things like the changing season, the changing calendar, and changes in what time the sun rises and sets, can prompt reactions in sensitive individuals, including those who cope with manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.

“We’ve found that some people are living with bipolar disorder, because of the change of seasons and daylight savings, the days get shorter, the darkness, the darkness triggers depression and thoughts of suicide and suicide ideation,” she said. “The lack of sunlight affects people with and without mental illness. It brings on depression for a lot of people.”

The pandemic and a host of COVID-19 restrictions intended to slow the spread of coronavirus have had major impacts on individuals living with mental illness, Leamy said. Before March, the Tuolumne County Behavioral Health enrichment center across from the post office on South Washington Street was a support hub for those dealing with mental issues.

“Many people with mental illness, they’d go there two or three times a week,” she said. “It was a place for them to go, they could socialize, they could meet in groups. They had structure. That structure has been missing all these months, since the pandemic began. So without that structure and that human contact in some of our members’ lives, they have rapidly decompensated. They are longer sleeping and eating on a regular schedule.”

Once that happens, individuals who are taking medications on a regular schedule tend to forget their meds, and there’s a good chance symptoms of their illness worsen, Leamy said.

Leamy estimates she works with about 50 individuals annually in Tuolumne County who include people asking for help with issues, finding a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, just getting through the day, or finding a hospital, as well as folks who have loved ones with mental issues who call to ask how to de-escalate crisis situations.

Asked if she’s seen an increase in calls for help since the pandemic began, Leamy said, “Of course. It’s kind of strange. We had a lot of calls, a very large increase in calls for help in March, April, May and June. And then it’s been very quiet lately. I think that some of the people that are depressed are past the point of calling for help.”

Leamy said the large increase in calls earlier this year easily doubled the number of calls her nonprofit would receive, but she thinks some people are just staying home now and not reaching out for help any more.

“I’m very, very concerned, because I know some of our members have been hospitalized in mental hospitals in the past couple months, they just can’t do it anymore,” she said. “In October, we had two members hospitalized in a psych ward. They’ve been in well over a month. I think in the beginning they were calling for help, but as the depression got worse they no longer called for help and they were home alone in a very bad state.”

Leamy said she had no evidence of an increase in suicides in Tuolumne County.

Deputy Niccoli Sandelin, a spokesperson for the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday he recently compared the months of March through October for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and the comparison showed no increase in calls for service during the time that includes the pandemic in relation to mental health, nor was there an increase in coroner cases determined to be suicides.

Between March and October 2017 there were 202 calls for mental health crises or suicidal subjects; March to October 2018 there 220 mental health or suicidal subject calls; March to October 2019 there were 214 mental health or suicidal subject calls; and for the same eight months in 2020, there were 202 calls for mental health crises or suicidal subjects.

A comparison of coroner’s statistics on actual suicide deaths showed a decrease in suicides during the pandemic, from March to October this year. In 2017, there were nine suicides from March to October in Tuolumne County. There were 10 suicides over the same eight months in 2018 and 11 suicides March to October in 2019. There were six suicides in Tuolumne County from March to October 2020.

Asked what people can do for their friends, coworkers or neighbors who may be coping with loneliness, sadness, depression or diagnosed mental illness, Leamy suggested telephone calls and cards delivered by mail are great ways to show support.

“Nobody claims they are perfectly physically healthy, and there’s nobody that’s perfectly mentally healthy,” she said. “We all have our ups and downs. Most people can go with the flow, but sometimes people need help.”

Domestic violence

The nonprofit Center for a Non Violent Community of Sonora offers yearround services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Pam Orebaugh, a project coordinator with the center, said there is no documented proof that domestic violence spikes in terms of numbers during the winter holidays, but there is increased attention on domestic violence.

“It ebbs and flows,” she said. “We can’t predict what happens. We can have a year with no domestic calls on Thanksgiving Day, or we can have an emergency response call on Thanksgiving, where we need to go in person to an exam at a hospital where a victim may be injured in a domestic violence incident, or sexually assaulted, we get called out to help provide shelter.”

Orebaugh emphasized the center’s 24-hour crisis line, (209) 533-3401, is handled by live individuals, volunteers and staff, who respond to calls to that number around the clock and 365 days a year.

“We always have someone prepared to respond to calls to that number, and this Thanksgiving it will be staffed and ready,” she said. “We can’t anticipate what the holidays will bring. Oftentimes, people try and keep it together. Other times, if you speak to law enforcement, you know that sometimes situations sometimes spiral out of control, and that’s when resources like CNVC are necessary, and we do what can to help.”

As for domestic violence in Tuolumne County during the ongoing pandemic, Orebaugh emphasized, what she and others at the center have seen lately is that when pandemic measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 were first announced, and there were initial closings of schools and businesses, “it got a little quieter on our phones at first.”

Some people weren’t sure if CNVC services were available or if the center was open, Orebaugh said. The center does not offer walkup services due to the pandemic. But the center is open.

“We are here,” Orebaugh said. “We are available for people experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse, and human trafficking.”

Since March, Orebaugh said, the frequency of calls for help has continued to ebb and flow. That hasn’t changed.

“But the calls we get, the intensity of the violence, that seems to have increased,” she said. “That’s an observation we’ve made. It seems that it’s later on in the cycle of violence when people are reaching out. Instead of getting calls from potential victims right away, they’re a little later in the cycle of violence when they do reach out. The violence and mistreatment has elevated. They might have been able to cope but they are reaching out to us because it’s elevated.”

What’s happening is there tends to be more of a focus on domestic violence during the winter holidays, but the sad truth is domestic violence is happening all year long in the Tuolumne County community, Orebaugh said.

“We see, on average, more than 300 domestic violence survivors a year, 80 survivors of sexual assault a year, and we get thousands of crisis calls on the 24-hour crisis line every year,” she said. “On the plus side, there are things to be grateful for and positive things in the work we do.”

The center offers education and outreach to more than 6,000 youth and adults in the county, as well as counseling and shelter services, which have required some creativity and flexibility in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The center has spent $8,000 to $10,000 on hotel stays for victims since March.

“We have to provide safety from violence and we have to provide covidsafe environments, so people can live safely free from violence,” Orebaugh said. “We can’t do that without help from the community, who donate to our fund for safe housing, shelter and support for survivors. We want to meet people where they’re at. Sometimes they need a phone call. Sometimes it’s a meal. Sometimes it’s rent.”

Anyone who wants to donate to CNVC, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, can call (209) 588-9305 or visit https://nonviolentcommunity.org/ online. The center is accepting monetary donations only at this time due to COVID-19 restrictions, Orebaugh said.

“For COVID, we are closed for in-person services, no walk-ups,” she said. “We ask anyone who needs services to call the crisis line number and we’ll make a COVID-SAFE plan to work with them.”