Coping with depression during the Covid-19 Pandemic. That was the topic of an interview I was recently asked to do at work, and it got me thinking.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has been full of uncertainty from the start. Many months in now, we’re still learning new things almost daily. New mutations, variants, strains; new mandates, policies and ordinances; leaves, furloughs, and closed schools; illnesses and deaths. This pandemic has quite literally brought the world’s economy to a crippling halt.
And then, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccinations provided some relief. Things started to go back to normal. We could socialize again and spend time with our loved ones. And now we’re finding out that we’re trending in the wrong direction. It’s scary for a lot of folks. The past year of isolation was difficult, but that pales in comparison to the loss of loved ones. It’s demoralizing to consider the possibility that we might have to go back in that direction.
How Has Depression During Covid-19 Affected You?
That was the first question of my interview. I am a career firefighter and a member of our Department’s Peer Support Team. It’s not uncommon for the media to request interviews from the Fire Department staff. I have gained enough seniority that I can assist in disseminating most interviews, but I felt like this one hit home for me.
I suffer from depression and anxiety. While it hasn’t been exacerbated by the pandemic, it certainly hasn’t helped. Moreover, I feel as though my passion for our Department’s mental health gave me a good perspective to do this interview. Our Department, and the Fire Service in general is a good snippet of the mental health of our society.
Like most healthcare workers, we’re overworked. Our call volume has increased every year, not just during the pandemic. So while we’re tasked with responding to more and more calls, now there’s the added stress that Covid-19 has brought. And the stress is tearing us apart.
There is dissension amongst us in regards to how we should operate during the pandemic. Like any group of individuals, we have differing opinions as to whether vaccinations or masks should be mandated. What we can all agree upon is that isolation is bad for our collective morale.
During the initial phase of the pandemic we were forced to isolate in our stations and keep separate from one another. That meant no more group training, eating meals together, or sharing coffee with the off-going shift in the morning. It was remarkable to see how a construed insignificant change could have such a dramatically negative effect on our members.
To a person, that’s been the number one complaint and fear that I’ve heard as we consider the ramifications of going back in that direction. We don’t know yet what this fall and winter will bring; there’s been opinions floated that this might become an annual illness, but I can tell you that several members have related to me that they “can’t handle” masks and isolation if we have to do it again.
Not only are we suffering from sleep depravation and increased call volume, Covid-19 has changed our daily lives. It’s everywhere. Decontaminating the station and our equipment has become an all-consuming process. Yet, we still have to maintain our proficiencies and training. There is no break from the “normal” aspects of our job. Somehow, we have to fit these new requirements and responsibilities in, and we’re already stretched thin.
Covid-19 Has Shifted Perspectives of Mental Health and Depression
The Fire Service is rich in tradition. Most of the time, that’s a good thing, but not when it comes to mental health. The stigma is there, and asking for help is a perceived weakness. We’re expected to work in grueling environments, so if your coworkers think you’re “weak,” that automatically leads to distrust, and our teamwork is built on the fundamental aspect of trust.
That said, a silver lining of this pandemic is that more people are opening up and discussing how Covid-19 has affected them. I have been candid in discussing my ordeals with mental health and encouraging all of our members to get mental health screenings. We have enacted a peer support team to help guide members on where to seek help, or just to listen to them vent. Throughout this pandemic, that peer support team has been utilized more frequently as opposed to prior. More and more members have expressed how they’ve experienced depression during Covid-19.
Unfortunately, the more we shift culture towards accepting mental health risks as a “normal” side effect of our career, the more we realize that there’s room for improvement. Across the country, public safety employees are facing unprecedented numbers of PTSD, anxiety and depression. That extends towards all aspects of healthcare workers. As staffing is reduced to overcome outbreaks and illnesses, those that can work have gone beyond depletion. At some point, it’s going to become unsustainable.
We’ve run into this problem a few times on our Department where we’ve had to run rigs short staffed because we can’t fill a position. It’s bad for our safety and it’s bad for the services that we provide to the community. Yet, sometimes there is no other option. We can’t hire more employees because of budget shortfalls, and the reality is that the hiring pool has been declining over the past several years anyways.
No one apparently wants to work in a career where they can spend 1/3 of their lives away from their families, risking their lives for patients who cuss at and threaten them, all for a meager salary. Add in the “benefits” of an increased risk of heart disease, PTSD, depression, anxiety and suicide. You won’t find that on the job posting.
The Only Way to Cope with Depression During Covid-19
I have several recommendations for how to cope with depression during Covid-19, but there’s only one way that they’ll be useful – they have to be acted upon. We can’t sit back passively and wait for this to be over. There’s a good chance that time will never come. We’ve all been affected in different ways, but I’m pretty sure that we’ve all been, and will be, affected.
My mom has told me frequently that she can’t wait to get back to normal so that she can visit with friends and do her normal activities. Personally, I am much more introverted than my mother, so isolation hasn’t bothered me at all. Instead, I’ve been affected by the job stress and wondering if I was risking the health of my family. Would today be the day that my daughter got sick because I brought Covid home from work?
We’re in this for the long haul, so I wanted to share with you a few brief recommendations for how to cope with depression and/or anxiety during Covid-19:
- Avoid the news: our opinion of this entire pandemic is going to be slanted towards whatever media outlet that we’re getting our news from. Unfortunately, they don’t have our best interest in mind. It’s excruciatingly rare to have good news anymore, and we’re poisoning our minds with negative thinking. There is such a thing as the Power of Positive Thinking, and we can’t have that when we’re inundated with negativity. While it is important to stay informed, try to limit your exposure to the news media to a day or two a week. Read a book instead! (I recommend anything by Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Harris or C.S. Lewis. Or, here are other books I recommend.) I have quit watching the news and reading news articles completely for over a year now, and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. Plus, how much of that “news” really affects you on a daily basis? Is it worth risking your mental health?
- Go for a walk! One of the positive aspects of isolation is that more and more people have spent time outdoors. We can only take indoor isolation for so long, and that fresh air does wonders for the soul. Add in some thoughtful exercise, and you’ve got a recipe for positivity!
- Utilize social media, responsibly: connect with loved ones as often as you can via Facetime, Skype, or Zoom. Use whatever means you have available to connect remotely. It’s important that we spend time with our loved ones and maintain our relationships, even if it’s in a different format. We don’t know what is yet to come, so plan accordingly.
- Spend some time introspectively: This comes natural to me, but for those of you who are extroverted, take some time to really connect with yourself. What motivates you? What are you passionate about? How can you improve during the next year? Is there a new hobby or skill you’d like to learn? Now is the perfect time!
- Look out for one another: This duty falls on all of us. Check in with your neighbors; call a loved one and just see how they’re doing. It’s incredible how one thoughtful action can impact another. Human beings are (mostly) social creatures. Loss of our social livelihoods has somewhat dehumanized us. As we potentially look towards another winter of isolation, it falls on all of us to not repeat the mistakes of the last year.
We are Professional Problem Solvers
I submit that firefighters are the world’s best “problem solvers.” That should be the only job description. You have a fire? We’ll come put it out. Someone’s drowning? We’re on the way. Medical emergency? We do that too. Haz Mat leak? Yep. Not to mention car accidents, automatic alarms, car fires, people stuck in an elevator, rope rescues, water rescues, ice rescues, downed power lines, animal rescues (yes, we do get called for cats in trees), and just about any other problem you can think of. I’m pretty sure if the dispatcher doesn’t know who to dispatch they just send the Fire Department.
There’s a running joke that with a table full of firefighters and unlimited coffee we could solve any problem. Because that’s what we do. The thing is, we can train and prepare for most problems. Over a career, we gain experience to use for the next time. The environments and situations are dynamic and rarely the same, but to a certain extent we can prepare for an outcome.
What we aren’t trained on is how to respond when we’re crippled with grief after doing CPR on a dead infant. Or how to recover from the trauma of a multi-fatal car accident. Or how to feel after dragging out a dead burn victim. There’s no way to prepare for that. We just have to adapt and lean on each other when the time comes, and it will come for all of us.
And that is the solace that I can provide to the general public. If and when depression during Covid-19 comes your way, don’t be afraid to reach out and lean upon one another. That’s the way humanity is supposed to work.
If you find yourself alone, just remember that there is someone you can always lean on. Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Regardless of what this pandemic brings going forward or how it affects us, we can all find comfort in that.