The Final Call

Down but not out - Coronavirus takes mental toll, but Black resilience kicks in too

By Barrington M. Salmon -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Apr 29, 2020 - 10:01:12 AM

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Amid the chaos of the coronavirus and recovery from a tornado, Chandler Burrell, of Prentiss, Miss., gets his hair cut by barber Antonio Hicks, also of Prentiss, April 14. Watching is Demetric Harper, 3. Photo: AP/Wide World Photos

WASHINGTON—For many Black Americans, the coronavirus pandemic is just another hammer, another crippling load tossed onto already existing layers of uneasiness and concern they carry.

The fact that Black people are being disproportionately killed by the global pandemic is one major cause for concern. There’s also the reality that many Black people had a job on Thursday and on Friday it was gone. Another heavy weight is the apprehension of knowing that the relentless demands of rent or a mortgage, buying food and taking care of other necessities don’t stop because you’re now unemployed.

Mental health experts say they’re seeing a noticeable uptick in the psychological and emotional toll Covid-19 and its resulting fallout is having on all Americans, particularly Black Americans. Suicides are up, so is depression, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) anxiety and other mental health and emotional disorders.

Ann Rosen Spector, a Philadelphia-based psychologist, explained the crux of the problem in another publication.

“The two things human beings crave are control and certainty,” she said. “Whenever you have a loss of control or a great deal of uncertainty, anxiety is likely to increase. The pandemic is like that on steroids. No one knows where it is, no one knows who’s going to get it next, no one knows how to keep everyone in their world safe, and no one knows how long it’s going to last.”

“NYC Healthcare Heroes,” a city-wide philanthropic program launched and made possible by the Debra and Leon Black Family’s $20 million donation and Aramark’s services, salutes the more than 100,000 New York City health care professionals on the front lines combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, on Apr. 16, in New York. Photo: AP/Wide World Photos

Health experts say in a number of cities in the United States—including Los Angeles, Boston and Portland, Oregon—suicide hotlines are dealing with a surge of calls. Some researchers from the Journal of the American Medical Association characterize suicide deaths and coronavirus as a perfect storm. They point to economic stress, social isolation, and decreased access to community and religious support that may increase the risk of suicide.

“There are fears that the combination of canceled public events, closed businesses, and shelter-in-place strategies will lead to a recession,” the report read. “Economic downturns are usually associated with higher suicide rates compared with periods of relative prosperity. Since the COVID-19 crisis, businesses have faced adversity and laying off employees. Schools have been closed for indeterminable periods, forcing some parents and guardians to take time off work.

“The stock market has experienced historic drops, resulting in significant changes in retirement funds. Existing research suggests that sustained economic stress could be associated with higher U.S. suicide rates in the future.”

Dr. Lynne S. Gots, a licensed psychologist in private practice in Washington, D.C., and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the George Washington University School of Medicine, advises people through a column she wrote to protect mental health by maintaining a routine; take reasonable precautions; find ways to “get going” or motivate yourself; try not to fixate on sleep; stick to consistent meal times; follow your regular mental health treatment plan; practice mindfulness and acceptance techniques such as prayer, meditation or yoga; and be kind to yourself.

Dr. Ramel Kweku Akyirefi Smith said the global pandemic will have lasting ramifications down the road, but it’s the present that worries so many people.

“It’s layered,” he explained. “There are three different types of people: the rich who are just inconvenienced, people who are pinched and the rest who are worried and are in the throes of crisis. There are a lot of people who live a life of opulence but live check-to-check. It’s crazy. People are on pins and needles. There is anxiety of the unknown.”

Dr. Smith, a prominent Milwaukee psychologist, said Americans are already on edge and they are getting no direction or leadership from the federal government or most political leaders.

“The president is quick to change his mind, there’s no federal mandate and inconsistency rules around the invisible boundaries in which people are required to operate,” he told The Final Call. “People are seeing money going to corporations and they’re not getting it, there’s extra poverty. Farmers can’t get rid of their food and almost everyone is feeling the financial crunch.”

“This mental anxiety could manifest the worst of the human spirit.”

The socio-economic fault lines between the wealthy, the super-wealthy and everyone else has been revealed in ways that politicians, corporate media and the elites almost always try to pretend didn’t exist. In the last five to six weeks, about 25 million Americans filed for unemployment. The number exceeds employment figures during the Great Depression. Significant numbers of Black Americans, and other Africans in the United States, sit on the side of the ledger of those most vulnerable. They are essential workers: bus drivers, train operators, nannies, maids, grocery store employees, nurses and medical personnel. Their mental state has become agitated the longer they have to work and be exposed to the virus.

“It’s only a matter of time before people move into survival mode—they called it looting during Katrina,” said Dr. Smith. “People are saying ‘I’m hungry.’ I know this is coming. You let a good father who had two jobs file for unemployment and not have food to feed his children. People are going back to selling drugs and engaging in other anti-social behaviors. Strip clubs are closed. These women have to eat too. People are still selling drugs, weapons and selling their ‘cat.’ None of this is stopping them.”

“It’s about the unpredictability of the future. If they said America will open on Dec. 15, people could deal with and adjust. But no one knows when that might happen. The government is not willing to protect true citizens. It will be Boston Tea Party, Patrick Henry mode. How long before it gets crazy?”

Karestan Koenen, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at Harvard’s H.T. Chan School of Public Health, said in an April 16 Harvard Gazette story that the toll on Americans is becoming both palpable and quantifiable. Speaking on a media conference call, she referenced a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey in which 19 percent of respondents said the Covid-19 crisis has had a “major impact” on their mental health.

Meanwhile, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds the 84 percent of those surveyed say their life has been disrupted by coronavirus. This includes large majorities across race and ethnicity, gender, and parental status.

Dr. Jonathan Vital, a clinical neuropsychologist, said young people he’s encountered and counseled are unfazed while their parents and other adults are terrified by the threat coronavirus poses.

“Always is going to depend on age. Young clients are unshaken and parents are very shook,” said Dr. Vital. “I have to see clients. I can see clients face-to-face using social distancing but parents are so afraid to bring children to sessions.”

He said he doesn’t see that level of fear in White clients.

“More of my White clients and colleagues give this whole coronavirus a serious side-eye,” he said. “Our people say ‘nope,’ now they’re saying more. Black people accept everything hook, line and sinker. They evaluate nothing. And they have a propensity not to vary their news sources. Traditional media keeps them in a box. Others will question things. But we say it’s better to be safe or sorry.”

Dr. Vital, who also goes by the Akan name Nana Obrafohene Kwaw, acknowledged that Blacks are getting sick and dying from Covid-19 but he said he believes the crisis has been overblown.

Dr. Vital said he’s mindful and sorry that people are dying but noted that having a 98 percent chance of survival are great odds. He also expressed concerns about the mandatory stay-in-place orders and wondered if these preventive measures would erode people’s constitutional right to worship.

Dr. Jeff Gardere echoed his colleagues’ assessments about the potential mental and emotional damage the pandemic has wrought.

“This is like an earthquake and tsunami together. We see it financially and socially,” said Dr. Gardere, author of four books and a contributing author of a halfdozen books including the text, “The Causes of Autism.” “The inability to touch, hug people will make people more isolated and distrustful.”

“I think most people are experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, sleep and appetite disruptions, and overeating and drinking. Almost everyone who is practicing social distancing and quarantining, for many of them it’s affecting relations. It’s triggering pre-existing mental health problems and a spike in domestic violence and suicides.”

Against this dour landscape, Dr. Gardere—a respected academician and contributor to the FOX Network, the Today Show, MSNBC, CNN and other networks—said mental health professionals are trying to gear up with tele-psychology and offering ways for people to have access to low-cost services, state-funded clinics and offerings online. Meanwhile, Dr. Smith said he and a number of his colleagues have been producing public service announcements airing on different television stations and other platforms. Others have embraced telehealth and virtual therapy.

Dr. Smith said he greatly admires the creativity and innovation he’s seeing as Black America finds ways to cope mentally and emotionally.

“African American groups are pooling together to produce PSAs and are participating in online forums,” he said. “That’s the beautiful thing about Black people. In times of crisis, we are always our own counselors. There are groups on Zoom who have been a great help to the community.”

Professionals have and are producing segments dealing with the coronavirus, offering strategies to cope, showing how to research to amass information, explaining what to do if you’re having suicidal thoughts, and other mental health tips, Dr. Smith added. Help is coming from a variety of sources. Noted actress Taraji P. Henson started a campaign to make free therapy available to help Blacks who are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. Ms. Henson is carrying out the campaign through the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which she founded in 2018 in honor of her father who suffered from mental health challenges after serving in the Vietnam War.

Covid-19 has fundamentally altered the way Americans live, experts say, and Dr. Gardere and others speculate that some of the changes forced by the pandemic will likely be a part of American life for the foreseeable future. Public schools, colleges and universities are closed, parents are home-schooling and other children and young people are ensconced in distance learning via Zoom, Skype and other carriers.

Most of America is shuttered with about 80 percent of the United States—almost 300 million people—sheltering in place or living in a state that is under a mandatory lockdown. Hospitals are being taxed and staff is often trying to save lives and offer critical medical care without adequate personal protective gear. Doctors and nurses have long detailed the shortage of gowns, masks, ventilators and other medical gear and equipment. Increasing numbers of medical personnel are coming down with the disease.

At Final Call presstime, Johns Hopkins University reported that there were 979,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and more than 55,500 people had died. The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as all repatriated cases.

Kristal High Taylor, founder and CEO of influence.us. P.B.C., said sometimes it’s difficult to wrap her head around the swirl of circumstances that is Covid-19. Ms. Thompson, a telecom and social media guru, counts herself as one of the lucky ones because she has a job. These days, she said, she somehow squeezes 37 hours into a 24-hour day.

“It’s crazy. A lot of people had a job and it’s gone,” she said. “I’ve been working a lot. I’m very grateful. I know people in a lot of different organizations and everyone has a different role. I’m experiencing a different kind of exhaustion. I’m trying to mentally muscle through. When I go to sleep, on weekends, I try to turn off my brain.”

“It’s a ‘balancing act.’ I have multiple clients, a six-and-a-half-year-old child and a universe of friends. It’s very dynamic.”

Ms. Taylor said she and others she knows recognize there’s “definitely a different level of immediacy of responses.”

“It swings from extremes,” said Ms. Taylor, a creative professional, entrepreneur and advocacy strategist. “You ask yourself, ‘what can you make happen today?’ You walk, get wine, take a bath, what you can get done in this day?”

“A lot of folks I talk to are leaders of organizations and executives in companies providing services. A number are active, stay-at-home moms trying to cultivate normalcy. For people I’m in most contact with, there is no option to sit down and do nothing. It’s an interesting idea of how people are looking at their trajectory. They are making plans for a new world. Before, I said, ‘we’ll see,’ and now I say, ‘Oh sh*!, there is a new world … .”

Beverly Hunt, a Washington metropolitan area media professional, said she was shocked initially when her world came to a standstill. But, she added, the pause in her daily activities has allowed her and others like her to press reset, assess where they are and decide what’s important.

“Like everyone else, it has been difficult. I’m very blessed that I still have three-quarters of my income,” Ms. Hunt said. “It freaked me out at first when I saw the income drop but the fact that I have work, insurance, shelter and food is so important. All these things I can’t take for granted. I know a lot of people without their own floor to isolate. I do. This takes us back to grandma’s kitchen.”

“It’s all about getting back to basics, getting back to our roots. Many of us know that we’re better prepared than most. My grandmother went through the Great Depression. There are things she did, things we learned.”

As someone with a compromised immune system, Ms. Hunt, a cancer survivor, said she’s deeply grateful for the gift of a medical-grade mask from a friend, other gifts and being able to barter with friends and colleagues from her herbal community.

“When people have needed things, we bartered,” she said. “I’ve been blessed with bitter leaf and other herbs. I hope that we do more sharing. A lot of things we do will not get on social media, or the paper but our people are very kind, very generous.”