Psychotherapists talk about the ruthless side of quarantine: approaching a certain tipping point

They say that people lose their meaning. For some, the meaning of ordering the house is disappearing, for others, following the quarantine rules. What moods took over society and how do you motivate people to comply? And does the quarantine still make any sense when someone checks the seriousness of the rules introduced each week?

According to a network of pharmacies, people simply sweep away creams designed to protect the skin from the sun.

“It seems to give hope that maybe it will be better, because everyone is tired of the restrictions,” says Giedrė Tautkevičienė, pharmacist and manager of Gintarinės vaistinė.

The pharmacist says that frequently, visiting the pharmacy, one speaks of panic attacks, strong anxiety. People complain that they work without holidays at home and go back to work. That is the reality of an ordinary compatriot. Endless quarantine affects not only mental but physical well-being.

“Often a person says that he has always been very strong and no one has affected him in that way, and now he does not know what to do with himself. Quarantine for one year has an infinite impact on the nervous system. And the further away, the more pronounced the symptoms, people are very hard, their condition is bad ”, says the pharmacist.

Conflicting information and emerging double standards, where some are allowed more than others, although the rules appear to be the same, also add a lot of confusion.

“People naturally don’t stay focused for so many months. The bans go as far as I want to go, and then we have to think whether we’re going to play with the long and boring quarantine until we get to the mystical number that is probably hard to reach, or start exploiting the pros we already have on the vaccine, ”says Vilnius, advisor to Mayor Karolis Žukauskas.

“Last year’s quarantine lasted two and a half months. So it was easy to focus and focus on everyone. When this quarantine lasts almost six months, one should think not only about restrictions but also about releases to save people’s health, restore the sense of justice, because now the situation is such that some can go far and others cannot go to the adjacent area where their home is, “says the Vilnius mayor’s advisor.

The psychotherapist Daiva Žukauskienė says that now it is especially difficult for people to understand what to believe.

“Society is confused and can no longer believe in anything because there is an information war. One side tells us one, reality shows the other ”, assures the interlocutor.

The psychotherapist also says that a change in the mood of the public is noticed. The growing social tensions manifest themselves through anxiety and apathy.

“Already that beautiful period, when the repairs and order in the house were made, all the corners were polished, it was finished, and it was put aside. There is a mess, indisputably, reluctance to do anything, just gasp and wait for better times ”, says the specialist.

“I would say that the confusion is quite global, and you cannot believe the statistics or the media reports or any government information channel, because what was true yesterday is already a lie today,” says the psychotherapist.

According to pharmacist G. Tautkevičienė, people’s well-being is deteriorating very fast.

“We even have a couple of patients who come up to us and cry,” he says.

Seimas member Linas Slušnys believes that even if the public is disappointed with the quarantine, some people will not have to be persuaded, they will continue to follow the rules.

“We are approaching a certain critical point, when we have to start thinking about how we will live beyond, and finally we must say what things we are releasing,” says L. Slušnys.

According to him, now everyone wants to hear the promises that there will be more releases in the near future.

“I say to every conscientious citizen: convince your mother or father that it is necessary to administer the vaccine, and as soon as we have vaccinated the groups at risk, at least for the most part, I believe that no one will push to impose major restrictions to continue, “says Slušnys.

The psychotherapist says that she no longer knows what words to talk to people about and how to persuade them to follow the restrictions. The woman says she has a slightly simpler goal: to help those who turn to her not to get lost; And even when the meaning of following quarantine rules disappears, go on living.

“Try to do what you have been doing so far before there is a virus. As far as possible to live everyday life, such as washing hands, wearing masks, following the law and then looking, there will be what will be ”, says the psychotherapist.