The Washington Post (12/24, A1, Iati) reported, “Nearly two years into a pandemic coexistent with several national crises, many Americans are profoundly tense.” Americans are “snapping at each other more frequently, suffering from physical symptoms of stress and seeking methods of self-care.” In the most extreme cases, they are “acting out their anger in public – bringing their internal struggles to bear on interactions with strangers, mental health experts said.” Some of those behaviors “appear to be the result of living through a long-lasting public emergency with no clear endpoint, the experts said.” American Psychiatric Association Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster chair Joshua Morganstein said, “When people are presented with situations that seem overwhelming, they are more apt to give up in a sense and lock more tightly to a single perspective and approach, because the work that’s necessary to hold on to all this different information is just too much.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)