Triple Threat Impact for Mental Health
This is part of a communication series to health leaders in GHM’s partner countries. (sent May 2022)
“Ya sea solo …either alone”
A reference to isolation as part of a Red Cross public service billboard series in San Salvador. Photo by Rob Thames, May 3, 2022.
Last month, when I cited the mental health impact related to our global existential “triple threat” (climate warming, pandemic and war), it struck a chord.
Social isolation and loss of, or limited, work from the pandemic, feelings of helplessness about climate change, anger about war and angst about nuclear escalation, and mis- and dis-information about each, can overwhelm anyone, anywhere. In El Salvador this week, mental health concerns were consistently cited among the top health issues by leaders of Health Promoters (“promotores de salud”) from both government and our partner in El Salvador.
Climate: In a climate change-related survey (The Lancet Planetary Health, December, 2021), three out of four young people in 10 countries said the future was frightening. Some use therapy for their anxieties and some are drastically changing their lives out of fear for our warming planet, even deciding not to have kids.
COVID-19: In year one of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25% according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in March, 2022.
War: “Vicarious trauma is very real,” according to Michigan psychiatrist Michelle Riba, M.D., M.S. “Watching this (war in Ukraine) unfold is traumatic, and so is the sense of unfairness of being safe ourselves while others suffer.”
“... existential threats rarely come in threes, but our inability, to coin a term, to “multicrisis” might be the most serious existential threat of all.”
Leaders multi-task. Now leaders are learning to “multi-crisis” as well … and help others do the same.
Resources to help:
For All
Stress & anxiety:
Cleveland Clinic - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/8133-stress-10-ways-to-ease-stress
Mayo Clinic - https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/11-tips-for-coping-with-an-anxiety-disorder
War:
Univ. of Michigan - https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/stressed-by-whats-going-on-ukraine-how-to-cope-and-help
For Teens
For Employers
Harvard - https://hbr.org/2020/08/8-ways-managers-can-support-employees-mental-health
Institute for Healthcare Improvement - http://www.ihi.org/communities/blogs/africa-5-ways-leaders-at-all-levels-can-care-for-the-well-being-of-health-care-staff?utm_campaign=Africa+Region&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=211700353&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--rGI27nUlELQ4AbS_C7130YlZj2FTn9piSedjOz1v0HQNt7mrZlg2Gh4kPxsTotOW7bl22UFN6LvWV59Sr3X76ILhaiA&utm_content=211206745&utm_source=hs_email
Lessons for Global Health Leaders
When unprecedented levels of uncertainty create unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety,
Leaders ARM themselves - and their teams - differently. The most effective leaders
Acknowledge - be vulnerable and convey that we do better when we recognize our vulnerability - and act - together;
Reach out – initiate more frequent check-ins to assure each colleague is heard and assure better response for needed support; reaching out also helps the person reaching out; and
Model – practice and demonstrate healthy self-care (the first items in many of the links/lists above identify fundamental self-health care practices, e.g., eat well, exercise, sleep, etc.)
This “ARM-ing” is a posture for a readiness to act. Action can break the paralysis of stress and the negative spiral of isolation.
In basketball, a triple-threat position is a posture where a player can do one of three things with the ball: dribble, pass, or shoot.
This is a position of “readiness” to act in many ways. This “readiness” posture is suited for a fast changing environment.
Such a physical posture serves as a trigger to remind us of a leadership readiness posture which integrates a mental/psychological, social/behavioral and moral/spiritual dimensions.
Asante/Gracias/Misaotra/Merci/Nagode/Thank you for ARM-ing your leadership to help your team thrive in the face of our global “triple threat.”
Update on the Race between the Virus, Vaccinations … and Variants
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), a new variant “XE” is a combination of BA.1 and BA.2. So far, it is reported to be more infectious than BA.1, but doesn’t seem to cause more serious disease.
Vaccinations – According to the Bloomberg COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker as of 2 May, 2022:
A shot in the arm: Over 11.6 Billion doses have been given in 184 countries.
Countries: Globally, 148 doses have been given for every 100 people.
Effectiveness: During the omicron wave, vaccination with a booster reduced the chance of hospitalization and death by more than 90% (Bloomberg tracker).
Virus – Globally, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Tracker as of 2 May, 2022, the reported COVID-19 infection count is:
6.24 million deaths – for reference, the population of GHM partner country El Salvador is ~6.5M. Reality? A study by the Economist using machine learning estimated as many as 17 million people worldwide, about three times the reported number, had died of Covid-19;
514 million COVID-19 cases have been reported. While experts concur that the actual number of people infected is a multiple of this reported number, it is still nearly the size of the population of the United States and Nigeria, the #3 and #7 countries by population, combined.