Unhinged  

There was an incident shown this week in an episode of a YouTube channel that I follow which made me realize that the world might be in a post-pandemic mental health crisis.

Japanese vlogger Rion Ishida was walking around Shinjuku district in Tokyo doing a livestream when suddenly from behind a middle-aged lady berated him at length for being a “spy”. Ishida, who is my favorite vlogger and who has 137,000 subscribers on YouTube, is known for his food, travel, and culture vlogs all around Japan. Ishida had faced some grumbling from security personnel and pedestrians in conservative and camera-shy Japan, but this was the first time he was harassed by an obviously very angry stranger.

While we are still in a pandemic, it is already in its waning phase and the worst could be over. So now I have my suspicions of a world gone unhinged by post-pandemic trauma.

My suspicion started when Russian leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared Ukraine a direct threat to Russia and launched a full-scale invasion attempt. Putin’s war against Ukraine is off the rails from wherever geopolitical angle one may look at it. The whole world including Russia and especially Ukraine may have suffered from this war, but it has galvanized NATO, strengthened the Western alliance, and exposed the fundamental weaknesses of Russia’s army --which only irked Putin even more.

Then there were the high-profile and successive mass shootings in the United States. In gun control-averse America, the risks and frequency of mass shootings may be predicted by some statistical models. But even some researchers have observed that gun violence has increased in the US during the pandemic by double digits.

In Japan where gun ownership laws are strict and political violence is unheard of, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot while delivering a speech at a campaign event yesterday. As of this writing there was no update on his condition except that he reportedly was in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest after sustaining a gunshot wound. CNN reported that the 41-year-old suspect did not attempt to run. He is now in police custody on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting Abe.

In Cebu, thankfully we have had no major incident of high profile or public violence associated with mentally-ill suspects. Perhaps, there may be, but no expert or serious research can explain incidents of violence or quirky human behavior and link them to post-pandemic stress disorder.

Psychology experts say that major economic uncertainty and social restrictions have led to increased levels of stress for many. In fact, an increase in cases of domestic abuse and other forms of household abuse have been observed. This is not surprising during and in the aftermath of a major crisis. Experts are pointing at mental health disorders, economic instability, and spread of misinformation as some of the causes of unhinged behavior during and right after a catastrophe.

While we are focused on addressing our people’s economic needs, we should also pay attention to the matter of post-pandemic mental health management. I have read that Cebu’s premier public hospital, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, has a 24/7 Hopeline for assisting people in an emotional or mental health crisis. In a resolution authored by then councilor Alvin Dizon and adopted July last year by the Cebu City Council, the Council urged the City Health Department to set up mental health helplines that would assist persons at risk of depression and suicide at a time of much stress and anxiety amid the pandemic.

In the Philippines we still have to develop a scientific and comprehensive strategy in dealing with the deterioration of mental health especially among our youth. Existing interventions, experts say, focus on more general solutions that fail to address unique challenges faced by people with mental health problems who are also facing economic challenges on the ground.

While we have Republic Act 11036 or the Philippine Mental Health Act of 2017 as a major framework to comprehensively address the mental health needs of our people, we still need to put our money where our mouth is on this one.

Apparently, as world events have shown, we are not just talking about depression post-COVID. There may be a predisposition to violent behavior among many people today which can be traced to post-pandemic trauma. So for whatever it’s worth, let’s just be especially careful and always be aware of our surroundings.