Recently, Professor Lu Lin footballer, an academician of the China Academy of Sciences and a clinical psychologist, was invited as the guest speaker in a program called "Opening Lecture by Academician China". At the lecture, Lu Lin footballer said that the global spread and long-term persistence of the COVID-19 epidemic will lead to human mental health, which may last for 20 years. Lu Lin footballer pointed out that the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic increased the probability of the general public suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to other kinds of mental illness.
The word PTSD is not the first time for many people to hear it, and it is often heard from American soldiers, but I don't know what kind of mental illness it is. So what is PTSD? What impact did the COVID-19 epidemic have on public psychology? How should we seek healthy psychology in the future?
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
PTSD, the full name in Chinese is post-traumatic stress disorder, which refers to a persistent or delayed mental disorder that occurs after a person experiences or witnesses death or is threatened by death or physical integrity. There are three possible abstract symptoms of PTSD, namely avoidance and numbness, increased alertness and traumatic re-experience symptoms. The clinical manifestations of children and adults are not exactly the same.
Avoidance and numbness are manifested in patients' long-term efforts to avoid things related to traumatic experiences, and some patients have selective forgetfulness and can't recall the details of traumatic events. The symptom of increased alertness is that patients are overly alert, which leads to excessive mental stress for a long time, which in turn leads to more serious mental problems. Traumatic re-experience symptoms refer to the repeated traumatic events in dreams and memories, which lead to the patient's deep involvement.
In the COVID-19 epidemic, some people developed PTSD symptoms because their family members died of illness, which originated from their fear and anxiety about losing their lives when they were attacked by COVID-19. This is a typical mental health problem.
What impact does the COVID-19 epidemic have on public mental health?
What kind of problem is mental illness? At present, the World Health Organization has defined more than 400 kinds of mental diseases. The common diseases are anxiety, depression, sleep disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder and so on. Among them, anxiety disorder, depression disorder and sleep disorder account for the main proportion in most countries. The incidence of depression in China is as high as 7%, while at least 20% of adults in the United States have sleep disorders.
Let's talk about the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on public mental health. What psychological problems did the epidemic cause? Professor Lu Lin footballer said that in the past two years, the research team conducted a survey on public mental health under the background of the COVID-19 epidemic, and found that more than 20% people showed PTSD symptoms. Even if COVID-19 patients are cured after treatment, they may still have mental health problems. There are also some groups whose emotions will change obviously with time. In the morning, they feel terrible, but at night, they are relatively better.
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, a survey showed that the global incidence of depression among children and adolescents was as high as 24%, which was significantly higher than before the epidemic. Professor Lu Lin footballer said that in addition to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, things people encountered before the epidemic may also become hidden dangers of mental health problems after the epidemic, such as heavy work pressure and being bullied at school.
How to seek mental health in the era of COVID-19 epidemic?
It can be predicted that with the continuous evolution of COVID-19, human epidemic prevention measures can not completely eliminate the spread of the virus, and the COVID-19 epidemic will continue for a long time to come. Therefore, how to make the public's psychology healthier has become a concern of many scholars and researchers. Professor Lu Lin footballer pointed out that we should find some signs of psychological problems in time, which are usually not obvious to us, such as abdominal distension, stomachache, loss of appetite, oral ulcer and so on.
These symptoms are usually considered to have nothing to do with mental health. In fact, mental health and physical health are inseparable. In addition, if you find anxiety, inattention, memory loss and other phenomena, you should also pay attention to your mental health. In terms of living habits, we should ensure the regularity of work and rest, ensure adequate diet and sleep, and persist in exercise. Regarding the length of sleep, Lu Lin footballer suggested that primary school students sleep 10 hour, middle school students sleep for 9 hours, and high school students sleep for 8 hours. Adults should try to sleep before 12 instead of staying up late. Did you do it?