Rebuilding Connections and Community: Navigating Isolation and the Need for Community
Laurie J and her husband finally got the news they’d been waiting for after two years of trying: she was pregnant! It felt strange to be celebrating when the world was just beginning to experience the lockdown imposed by the pandemic. How would this affect their journey toward becoming new parents? They were soon to find out in disturbing ways. John was not allowed to join her at her ultrasound appointment. She lived in fear that she would contract the virus during one of her pre-natal visits. The health care center was a somber place, everyone wearing masks and in a seeming state of emergency. Fear was rampant in the hallways. She couldn’t share her news in person with her parents and her friends, and she became increasingly lonely and isolated through an experience that should have been a celebration. John became more sullen and depressed, as he worried about keeping his job through these strange times. They started to feel estranged, even from each other as the pressure continued to mount. This was not the dream!
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression prevalence increased by 25% globally. Deaths due to drug overdose increased sharply across the total population coinciding with the pandemic – and more than doubled among adolescents. Fifty percent of young adults (ages 18-24) reported anxiety and depression symptoms in 2023, making them more likely than older adults to experience mental health symptoms. Young adults have experienced a number of pandemic-related consequences – such as closures of universities, transitioning to remote work, and loss of income or employment – that contribute to poor mental health.
In short, we have been severely impacted by this modern-day plague, and it would be a mistake to think that it’s all over and the danger has passed. New feelings, new habits, and new adjustments have made us less social, less secure and more uncertain than ever. We are more suspicious, more wary, and less likely to engage with others, even close friends and intimates.
but we are not paying attention to the fact that we are starving ourselves for community! It turns out that we need people and all of the interactions that creates. Even before the pandemic, the biggest complaint and issue for people across the country and the world was a profound sense of isolation. That has been increased exponentially, by the circumstances of this disease.
