Re-Entry Syndrome

[likeamillpond]

After a whole year of not socialising, things will feel strange for a lot of people.
.People will have to relearn the art of small talk for a start.
The advice is to not rush into rejoining everything all at once and above all
Be Kind and patient with eachother.

I agree.
Any other tips?

@SpnBaby1967

Someone who is friends with my mum hasnt left her house since Mid february 2020. She wont even let the tesco delivery man within 15 feet of her and will slam the door in his face if she feels he got too close. She's stopped responding to my mum texting her for large portions of time, eventually responding saying she has been staying in bed so hasnt been responding. She is PETRIFIED! And she isnt even particularly at risk. Her and her husband both had vaccine appts, she wont go to hers as it means leaving the house, or letting someone near her in her house (as we did suggest a home appt). She used to be so bright and bubbly, sang in the community choir, helped out with various charities, went geocaching with my mum, weekends away, the works.

I just dont see how she will ever recover, as she sees every human being as a virus ticking time bomb laser focused to kill her.

THIS is covid induced mental illness. Being a bit nervous about making small talk or going to crowded places isn't this.

The Guardian had about 3 different articles about this yesterday!

I am not looking forward to all the obligations. The having to go into school for this and that meeting - meetings that have been perfectly fine to do over the internet for the last year. Some things have been shown to operate perfectly well remotely (e.g. parents evening) but there will be those who just want things back exactly how they were and they will be the noisiest people and the rest of us who enjoyed things a little quieter won't be heard.

I think if people are fretting about this they probably need to check their privilege and think of countries in the world with actual problems. The next decade is going to be tough with climate change etc, we need to raise our game and resilience.

Jesus, @WaterBottle123
People CAN be worried about the environment AND feel overwhelmed at going back.
I think you are missing a small point. People who coped well over lockdown were resilient. They had to treat it as normal. Going back is likely to take some time to adapt. You, know, emotionally. On account of people being multi faceted beings

@Somethingkindaoooo

I agree, but it doesn't need to be a bloody syndrome. Feeling a little nervous or unsure? Fine.

But we shouldn't normalise extreme reactions or claims of a syndrome. Those with genuine anxiety disorders need support, everyone else needs to get some perspective.

WTF! Jesus Christ, stop with the syndrome nonsense.

Psychiatrists LOVE to talk sh*t. After all if they didn't have anything to say, they wouldn't get paid.

Whenever you see something from this field, remember it's not THAT long ago they were WIDELY using metal chisels on people's brains to fix mild depression.

Their general approach is a bit like horoscope writing. Make it vague enough that most people can find a way to relate to it and invent plenty of new "labels" for things because that makes you sound authoritative.

THIS is covid induced mental illness. Being a bit nervous about making small talk or going to crowded places isn't this

This is my point though. For the vast majority of people we will throw ourselves into getting our lives back. It'll feel weird for a bit and then we'll be back to "normal". But all the doom and gloom and MSM constantly threatening everyone with new variants and people dying with no risk factors is causing people to react like mums friend!

You see it on here constantly. OP comes on and posts as she was outside with someone, SD walking and that person now has covid, the OP is now terrified she'll die and leave her children without a mother. Or panic because they have the sniffles or a cough, or the OP who posted about a grotty baby who had a temp and was teething and everyone screamed at her to test the baby despite it clearly being teething (and the test was negative). The total hysteria around covid has caused perfectly "normal" people or those who previously had health anxiety to spiral into the realms of severe mental illness. The fear has incapacitated so many people how has society let this happen? We've protected our citizens by terrifying them (and I'm not taking about CEV or CV people here obviously), and at some point we'll expect people to need to rejoin the world. Go back out to work, go back to socialising, go back to walking out their front door and not being sure that act will lead to their untimely death.

The fear the MSM and gov't and some folk on here have instilled in the population is just criminal. Except, it's not criminal anymore to lock your family in the house. Its criminal now to hug your parents or stage a vigil for a murdered young woman.

@SpnBaby1967 that is so sad. SAGE with their plan to instill fear into the general public have a lot to answer for

@SpnBaby1967 Spot on. People should be held accountable for the damage that's been done. The government and media are top of the list.

Welcome to the world of living with autism.

Seriously the fact that I lost hard earned social skills during the first lockdown is the reason I've taken advantage of being allowed support in the form of a unofficial carer this time around.

From my experience the best way of coping is to force yourself in to the uncomfortable situations, each time it gets a little easier. Can't say I'm looking forward to people hugging again though, I did get to the point where I would allow certain people to hug me after knowing them for years, but not sure I want that happening again.

@SpnBaby1967

Utter nonsense.

There's always a few people in the world who panic about everything - there's no evidence it's any worse with covid.

If anything MSM DOWNplayed the virus risks by focusing entirely on the death numbers and continually talking about comorbidities as though the ONLY people dying were those experiencing their last few weeks anyway. As a result of this - idiots like you who believe that the whole thing is a hoax.

[quote WaterBottle123]@likeamillpond

Of course people are allowed to fret, we all have free will. But seriously, the world is on fire and only a resilient, agile human race is going to be able to deal with it. Calling it a syndrome IS self indulgent and only encourages people to make something out of nothing. We in the UK are so bloody spoiled!

Honestly, I wish anyone feeling nervous or stressed by easing well, I really do. But that doesn't change the actual reality we live in, which is that we are spoiled and need to raise our game to deal with the shit that is to come, not go round inventing syndromes.

I wish you the best for easing. [/quote]
This makes me smile. Honestly. We are the least resilient and least agile generation of the human race that’s even existed. We don’t stand a fucking chance lol.

@Somethingkindaoooo

I think if people are fretting about this they probably need to check their privilege and think of countries in the world with actual problems. The next decade is going to be tough with climate change etc, we need to raise our game and resilience.

Jesus, @WaterBottle123
People CAN be worried about the environment AND feel overwhelmed at going back.
I think you are missing a small point. People who coped well over lockdown were resilient. They had to treat it as normal. Going back is likely to take some time to adapt. You, know, emotionally. On account of people being multi faceted beings

People have been resilient, yes. I wonder if some issues will appear after things are relaxed, in the manner of people who get through a crisis "surviving" but then fall apart once things are "safe". We've all seen people do this in various circumstances.

Really I think it would be a form of PTSD but the criteria for diagnosing that is very strict, you have to have been through specific types of trauma.

Psychiatry isn't generally very good at looking at people's life experiences (that would be psychology). The sort of reactions people might have to this past year would most like be labelled anxiety, depression, or personality disorder.

They probably have to come up with a new name to describe it otherwise they'd have to admit that anxiety, depression, and personality disorder actually result from life experiences and not some spontaneous chemical imbalance, after all.

Sorry, wildly off on a tangent there!
I do wonder though if this will affect how we look at and deal with mental health issues in the future. Given that most of the population will have some idea of what it's like to have your life turned upside down, feel isolated, and so on.

@justanotherneighinparadise

You're absolutely right. Hence my comment about needlessly inventing syndromes.

I'm trying to raise my kids to be a bit tougher. Not because I'm unkind or unsympathetic but because the human race NEEDS them to be.

I think that is an interesting non-hostile way of looking at it.

I hate the comparisons to the world wars, but people didn't just pick up life where they left off. Many people made huge life changes afterwards.

And many of us had grandparents who reacted to the food shortages by filling their cellars and any spare corners of their homes with hundreds and hundreds of tins of food.

Many people will come out of these lockdowns and virus fear with different responses and behaviours too.

Some will have learnt new ways of living that they prefer. Some will have learnt new things about themselves. Some will respond by trying to protect themselves.

My post was in response to SunnySide

[quote notrub]@SpnBaby1967

Utter nonsense.

There's always a few people in the world who panic about everything - there's no evidence it's any worse with covid.

If anything MSM DOWNplayed the virus risks by focusing entirely on the death numbers and continually talking about comorbidities as though the ONLY people dying were those experiencing their last few weeks anyway. As a result of this - idiots like you who believe that the whole thing is a hoax.[/quote]
Please do point out where I said it was a hoax you absolute wombat!

I just believe that covid isnt the be all and end all of life and by making people think death was waiting round every corner has turned this pandemic into a MH epidemic.

i think most people will settle back into it surprisingly fast. It will be harder for younger children under 5, as a year of this will have made a bigger impact on them.

Not with you there! My under 5 won’t have any issues and there’s been minimal (no) impact on him. The only thing he’s missed out on is his swimming lessons and other kids birthday parties. Neither of which will impede him in any way (he’ll learn to swim at some point).

He missed a few months of play school but thrived on being at home.

He’s been at playgroup 3 days a week since Sept and now adores it. Luckily in England it stayed open.

We go out daily and stop to chat to people we pass (live in super friendly, small town).

We’ve bumped into other kids/ parents in the park and chatted/ played.

Weekly we’ve been meeting one of his friends and her mum, outside, to play (permitted as he’s under 5).

We saw family over the summer when we could (everyone lives abroad so we wouldn’t see them more than this anyway).

We went to the usual local attractions when they re-opened in July (?) until they shut in October (which they do for winter anyway). Lots of social interaction there.

We went to our local cafe when that reopened through until when it shut when our area moved to tier 4.

I wouldn’t say he’s missed out on any social interaction whatsoever!! I can’t imagine our experience is that dissimilar to other under 5’s in England? I know the rules have differed in Wales and Scotland. The under 5 age bracket (apart from the ones who were in Reception) have probably been the most shielded children from everything.

I met up with groups of people on several occasions last summer where we were allowed to, and what I most remember was that we all talked like mad - it was glorious! I also went to the theatre twice, went to a major shopping centre, and even found myself at a teenage birthday party at one point. So I don't think I''m going to have any problems slotting right back into the world, despite being a stonking introvert. I can see that if you've been shielding or been really anxious or living in a part of the country which has been under strict restrictions throughout it might be a lot harder. And, as I have throughout, I'll continue to treat my friends and family's concerns with respect and move at the pace of the most anxious/concerned. So, I won't bounce anyone into meeting indoors or coming to stay or coming to the theatre/cinema until they're absolutely ready.

I read this article too.

My main thought was being startled at how it ignored the mental health problems CAUSED by lockdowns.

My anxiety centres around things getting back to a normal that isn’t normal. All the new social etiquette and lack of spontaneity.

God that's really sad SpinBaby.

One thing I did think about last summer was just how many people were terrified and not going out at all. Seeing other people out and about made everything feel quite normal, but obviously the people who were having picnics and in cafes and things would have been the ones who were at least a bit less worried, while anyone too anxious to leave the house at all would be more or less invisible except to their existing friends/family/colleagues. It made me wonder, what percentage of strangers would have to disappear from public view before it became noticeable to the rest of us? I'm pretty sure that if I passed say 20% fewer people on my daily walk it wouldn't feel any different, but that means almost 15 million people across the country could just stop leaving their homes altogether, and if I didn't know them personally I might not notice. For some reason I found that thought very unsettling.

It feels like the opposite to me.

I've been forcing myself to go out every day so that Out There doesn't become a scary place. I think about 95% of the times I've been out I've fallen into conversation with a total stranger and there are a couple of people who I've been passing in the street for years and we've now started to talk to each other.

What I've noticed is how desperate a lot of people are to talk. Many radiate loneliness and talk pours out of them as if a dam has burst as soon as I show willingness to engage. I've heard about all sorts of sad health, family and relationship problems, although the other person doesn't know me from Adam (Eve?).

I don't think the problem will be making small talk, I think it will often be getting a chance to get a word in at all.

Can’t say I worry about the loosening of restrictions as long as it make sense in terms of data. My biggest issue will be re-engaging with folk I know who have blatantly disregarded or manipulated the rules. I’m genuinely unsure how to interact with them giving how much it’s p’d me off. I don’t want to live in my bubble of anger out of spite but also not sure I could just switch to be normal with them either.

Re-entry 😂. Some of us never left. My life has barely changed, worked out of the home throughout the pandemic coming into close contact with many people on a daily basis, probably end up in the supermarket about 3 times a week and chat on the phone to friends and family a lot. Even my shielding mum has been going out and about for months now, I don't know anyone in RL with the levels of anxiety spoken of on here.