Physicians, nurses, allied health therapists in hospitals, and also those who work in long-term care facilities and other community residences continue to be overworked and isolated, leaving them with the lack of support they need to recharge during this pandemic. While healthcare workers focus on supporting the physical health of those around them, their own mental health has taken an unimaginable hit.
The death these professionals are facing on a daily basis, along with the trauma of patients who are separated from their families, continues to trigger stress and struggle — and many of them aren’t talking about it. There are a few reasons isolation is impacting healthcare workers dramatically, and silently.
Internal Struggles Impacting Healthcare Worker Isolation
Dr. Chantal Brazeau, a psychiatrist at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said in a recent article on OH&S Online, “Physicians are often very self-reliant and may not easily ask for help. In this time of crisis, with high workload and many uncertainties, this trait can add to the load that they carry internally.” Healthcare workers are suffering silently often because they choose not to burden others with what they see and experience every day.
The isolation of healthcare workers is amplified by a number of internal factors.
Communicating about these issues is incredibly difficult and takes a toll. Sometimes it can feel simpler or like less work to process these feelings and experiences alone rather than try to discuss them with others.
When we face trauma, our bodies and mind go into survival mode, which sparks the fight or flight response. Healthcare workers are experiencing physical stress from the body thinking it needs to respond to a foreign attacker.
Many healthcare workers just don’t have the time or mental capacity to digest and process their days, because things move at such a rapid pace.
The External Factor of Physical Separation
The majority of healthcare workers are isolated from their families due to their high-risk profession. This isolation could be within their own home, or away from their home and loved ones, or for single healthcare workers, separation from broader friends and family due to fears and uncertainty surrounding the spread of the virus. This separation from immediate, extended, and chosen family creates both a physical and an emotional detachment from the vital support system that lies outside of work.
The Real Risk of PTSD
Acute stress and the risk surround healthcare workers every single day, and it is a recipe for a PTSD crisis. Hospitals and long term communities that were already understaffed are being stretched to and beyond their limits and patients are prevented from seeing their loved ones, creating the perfect storm of a crisis that will create trauma with a long lasting ripple effect. The emotional toll this pandemic takes could compound their feeling of isolation and lead to a generation of healthcare workers who suffer from PTSD long after COVID-19 has passed.
If you or a loved one is an isolated healthcare worker, now is the time to seek help.
Dr. Delligatti recently discussed the issues facing healthcare workers on a webinar titled, “Coping with Coronavirus: Mental Health Challenges for Healthcare Workers on the Front Lines.” In this webinar, she explains how to help healthcare workers and their loved ones as they navigate the uncertainties of today’s healthcare landscape. You can watch it here.