Everything Is Back to Normal, or Is It?
As the majority of the world becomes vaccinated, and the face masks come off, things are beginning to return to some semblance of normal. However, the post-COVID-19 world has mental and emotional scars that may take years to heal. In fact, some may never disappear entirely. But with the right mental health care and an abundance of caring, compassionate providers, healing is possible.
Mental Health Counseling in the Post-COVID World
While the need for mental health counselors is greater than ever, the face of counseling, itself, has changed. Treatment can now take place over the phone or through any number of streaming applications online. Families still need help with marriage and relationships, but now greater numbers of individuals are seeking treatment for a range of post-pandemic problems, including:
- Loneliness
- Fear
- Trauma
- Grief
- Depression
- Anxiety
Mental health issues such as these were issues before COVID-19, but never in such an impactful way. The National Institutes of Health refer to it as a “tsunami of psychiatric illness.” And though the danger of the disease itself is winding down, the emotional fallout only continues to grow. In fact, new and unusual mental health problems are on the increase as a result. According to the NIH, these include:
- Unreasonable fear of crowded places
- Obsessive hand washing
- Feeling the need to remain socially isolated
- Impaired attention span
- Survivor's guilt
Many of these mental health impairments have been brought on by the isolation of quarantine. But others are direct results of having contracted and survived the virus.
How You Can Help the World Heal from COVID-19
If you're one of the world's helpers, or if you'd like to be out there on the front lines of global recovery, apply for admission to the Master of Marriage and Family Therapy program at Phillips Graduate Institute today. We'll prepare you to help and empower you with the knowledge and techniques needed to do some real good in the post-pandemic world.