Wuhan went into lockdown on 23rd January and have just come out of it. Which makes it about 9 weeks I think??
We went into lockdown of sorts on 23rd March so 9 weeks takes us until end of May/start of June.
I know a lot of people compare how we coped during the war and give opinions on how people just need to be more resilient like people were back then. Or were they. My mum was a child during the way and a late teenager when it ended. She was left with life long claustrophobia because she spent nights sleeping in the underground stations with bombs dropping round her. She hated confined spaces after that. One of my aunts suffered agoraphobia dating from the same time. She'd shake if she found herself in places where she couldn't 'escape' - which could be outside with nowhere to get away from people or could be in difficult situations. Another aunt had a nervous breakdown because of the bombs and never really recovered fully. MH issues were around then and scarred people for years, if not for life. The face showed resilience but the mind didn't. That's what was expected. It didn't make it right.
I had a teacher who would dive under the desk if he heard a loud bang, like a door shutting or car backfiring. He'd been taken prisoner by the Japanese during the Burma campaign.
The point is that MH is fluid. We all have our tipping point. My aunts spent the same time on the underground platforms as my mum. None of them had claustrophobia. So why did she? Why did my aunt have a nervous breakdown but my mum didn't? Different tipping points and different reactions to those tipping points.
My DS's main worry, along with his friends, is that they will miss their transition week in July. They're concerned that they won't know where to go or what to do. Personally I'm glad that's their only worry. They are 13 years old - that should be their only worry. But other friends are concerned for family - what if their parents die? What makes one child think one thing and another think differently? Different tipping points. My son's not callous, his friend isn't overly worried usually. It's just their way of trying to process everything.
I think we all need to acknowledge those tipping points. Yes, we are all going through the same things to a lesser or greater degree at the moment. Some find it a challenge to track down milk or bread - they see it as a problem to be solved. Others just can't cope with the intensity of it all. Neither is right or wrong - just different.
It's those people who find it hard to cope that need the help and the biggest help is to listen, to acknowledge that it is important to them. You can't do that if you shut them down. That's what happened to my aunts, my mum and my teacher and they were the ones to carry that 'shut down' with them for their lifetime.
Even if you can't offer a solution, showing a bit of empathy and encouraging the conversation can help a lot.