Psychiatrist and Independent Senator Dr Varma Deyalsingh says the feeling of detachment being experienced by citizens as they hear of COVID-19 deaths is completely natural.
It is also a way by which people are coping with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deyalsingh, who has spoken out about increased depression, anxiety, anger and hopelessness among citizens, sought to explain why people have grown numb to the increased deaths.
“This experience is completely natural. The loss of our social activities and normal life also contributes to the feeling of numbness and we become emotionally disconnected. When we’re inundated with statistics, it’s easy to lose touch with reality,” Deyalsingh said.
He noted that the pandemic had created anxieties for many people.
“Our feelings fall between exhaustion and apathy like our empathy is overloaded. It is learned helplessness,” he explained.
But Deyalsingh said there is a danger arising out of this numbness.
“The emotional numbing can result in people not taking the situation seriously and letting their guard down, not because they are defiant, ignorant, or selfish, but because they get exhausted,” he said.
He noted, “If you don’t personally know anyone directly infected or who died from COVID-19, you can feel detached from the pandemic threats.”
Deyalsingh said when the first case was announced people wanted to know everything.
Who they were, where they lived, how they caught it, who were the families and places they visited,” he said.
But with the threat of COVID 19 fresh in their minds, Deyalsingh said people were obsessively ingesting news alerts and living in anxiety, uncertainty, and fear.
“With the passage of time, the novelty has worn off and our brains adjust to this acute stress and shift to what feels like a chronic risk.
We become accustomed to the same news, adapt and become desensitized,” he said.
He noted that the loss of our social activities and normal life also contribute to the feeling of numbness and people have become emotionally disconnected.
“It is natural to have a less emotional reaction to a threat we’ve been exposed to for a long time,” he added.
He noted that citizens were living in a narcissistic society with people only caring for themselves.
“Now without any personal connection, another death is just a statistic or name. Some already have too much to deal with in their lives to care to bring in emotions for a stranger,” he explained.
Deyalsingh said most depressed people do not seek help most times because of a lack of awareness.
He has recommended that employers hire a “social worker buddy” and allow their employees’ relatives to have access to social programmes.