Mental health impact of coronavirus grows amid 'stay-indoors' restraint
The Yomiuri Shimbun
As people are urged to practice self-restraint from nonessential trips outside their homes amid the new coronavirus outbreak, the number of those seeking advice on dealing with stress and other mental problems is on the rise in both the public and private sectors.
On social networking sites, such keywords as "corona stress" and "corona depression" have become prevalent. Experts have advised measures for dealing with coronavirus-related stress, such as making a daily schedule and talking with others over the phone.
"Have I become neurotic about coronavirus? While I am not physically exhausted, I am exhausted mentally, so I cannot sleep well," said a 33-year-old housewife from Soka, Saitama Prefecture, lamenting her loss of sleep on Twitter earlier this month.
She went on to say that because the kindergarten that her 5-year-old eldest son attends has been closed since about a month prior, they spend their time together during the day. Afraid of being infected, she cannot even take him out to the neighborhood park and they are almost completely at home.
As the sleepless nights continued, she became prone to raising her voice when her son behaved even a bit selfishly or made minor mistakes. Seeing on social media how merrily her "mom friends" appeared to be spending time together with their children, she would fall into a state of self-hatred, blaming herself, thinking, "Why can't I raise my child properly?" As a result, exchanging messages with her "mon friends" became somewhat of a bother. It became clear to her that "I sometimes feel anxiety that I may not be fine."
A 39-year-old female nurse working at a nursery school in Tokyo also feels the weight of stress induced by the coronavirus. With children of her own, ages 2 and 4, one of the sources of the stress in her life is wondering whether she "would infect others or being infected either at work or at home."
At the nursery school where she works, there are children who don't like wearing masks and remove them. When their parents came to pick them up, she's sometimes forced to answer for their accusatory questions, "Why didn't you have them wear a mask?" She said with a sigh, "I often get depressed and am overcome with stress."
The results of an analysis done by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on mental health consultations filed between Feb. 7 and the end of March at mental health and welfare centers of local governments nationwide showed that about 1,700 of the cases were related to the new coronavirus. The matters discussed during the consultations were diverse. Some people fear being infected saying, "I am so frightened of being infected that I cannot go outdoors," or "The shortage of masks is causing me to panic." Others express concerns about their livelihoods, saying, "We can't use care-taking facilities (for the elderly) and I got tired from care taking."
Also, 238 people sought advice on mental health problems on "Kokoro no Sodan" (mental consultations), an online chat website set up by the health ministry, from March 18 to 31.
Mariko Ukiyo, representative director of the Japanese Organization of Mental Health and Educational Agencies who also acts as an advisor, said, "As people practice self-restraint from leaving their homes, feelings of isolation sneak up on them, put them at risk of a 'coronavirus depression.' I recommend they create opportunities to release stress by talking with friends over the phone, for instance."
In the private sector, nonprofit organization Tokyo Mental Health Square has reinforced its consultation service system on social media this month, and Childline Support Center Japan, also a nonprofit organization, accepts consultation requests from children aged 18 or younger.
The Japanese Society of Mood Disorders, an organization comprised of psychiatrists and the others, made public on its website April 7 a set of 11 concrete tips for preventing coronavirus-induced depression, including: 1) getting up at the same time of the day even if people are to telework at home; 2) being in the sunshine for about 2 hours every day; and 3) talking with others over the phone.
Takashi Ebisawa, a 60-year-old psychiatrist and medical director of Rokubancho Mental Clinic in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, said, "Should mental stress that a person has no prior experience with continue to disrupt their lifestyle, they may develop symptoms including irregular sleep patterns and a lack of appetite. It is important to control stress through activities such as regular exercise."
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