Loza
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your mental health, personally?
Edna
Me, personally.
Jocelyne
Umm
Loza
Are you okay?
Edna
But when something like a pandemic hits, you know, people start to realise how little in life we really have control over. Yeah. Yes.
Jocelyne
Worsening conditions, not just health conditions, mental health conditions, domestic conditions, homeless children, your the immigration status, all those things were affected by the pandemic in one way shape or form…
Jocelyne
Hello, globies. Welcome to World Health Investigation. My name is Jocelyn.
Edna
I'm Edna.
Loza
And I'm Loza.
Edna
We are three young global health professionals and your hosts for the World Health Investigation podcast…
Loza
Also known as the WHI. We'll be discussing all things global health and unpacking the most controversial health issues.
Edna
As well as promoting new-wave global health development and equity.
Jocelyne
So, ladies, what's the tea? What's going on today?
Edna
What’s going on today?
Loza
Today, today is going to be a little personal, guys. Remember when I asked, “Are you okay mentally?”
Jocelyne
Mentally
Edna
Oh you really meant that?
Loza
The kids are not alright and we're gonna to discuss.
Jocelyne
What do you mean by discuss this for? You're getting into my personal space here, I’m not liking it.
Loza
I am. I am. Well, you guys said we're going to spill the tea, spill the tea. You get?
Edna
Not on me.
Loza
On you.
Jocelyne
Not my own tea, I said global health tea, not my own tea.
Loza
Global health involves you, are you not in the world? Yeah.
Edna
You’re not wrong
Jocelyne
Ahhh she really came for my neck today.
Loza
Every day. Today, you know, we are the youth, right? And today we're going to be talking about the impact of COVID-19 and all that it came with, all the gifts they gave us, and its impact on the youth’s mental health. So that's why y’all going to be spilling the tea, cause y’all young people.
Well, I'm going to start with, like a little case study to ease us in there. I'm not going to put you on the spot yet. Just yet.
So you guys remember in 2020, when… I'm going to talk about the UK, when the government said and the university said, “Come back to uni, we're back to normal. Corona is over. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, fun time. And students came in and then there was lockdown. Students were getting COVID at high levels. That's kind of the case study.
So if people don't know about this particular situation in 2020, there were warnings from public health officials saying that students should not be returning back to school. But universities, and there was pressure from higher management to actually continue classes. They said in person classes would be back. And there was a lot of encouragement for students to come back. Once students arrived, there were spikes in covert cases. There were complaints from people that were living in towns where there were big universities because then they were also getting COVID as a result. And so students unions were saying we should shut down. But there was pressure because most universities didn't want to basically have a financial cost because if students were studying at home, they would ask for reductions in their tuition and they were not having that.
So in the end, what happened was when students got COVID, they'd be forced to isolate in their accommodation with not a lot of support system. I know personal examples of students where they were told to isolate, but then they could not buy food because it would be on the weekend and the food delivery service would not be there. And there was like, no checks, no systems to actually help them. So they'll just be there, maybe relying on a kind flat mate that doesn't have COVID. At some point, some accommodations were barricaded with metal fencing so students couldn’t leave. There was lots of protests. So it just all erupted.
So clearly that had a lot of mental health issues. There were instances of suicide, like there was a couple, like at the University of Manchester, for example, where there was a lot of complaints that students did not have wellness checks, where, you know, there were a lot of first year students that were away from their families for the first time and they were thrown into this.
So that was the situation. So, now, I know I did some of my uni during the pandemic. I know, Jocelyne, you did your entire master's during the pandemic. Edna half of your degree was in the pandemic.
Edna
Yeah.
So we've seen a little bit of this. So now you guys tell me about your experience and how your mental health has been during lockdowns and the era of COVID and studying and being a young person.
Jocelyne
I don’t know Miss Edna do you want to go first?
Edna
Nah, you can take it.
Loza
You guys are rushing to go first aren't you?
Edna
You got this. She didn’t even hesitate to be like “Edna”.
Loza
Edna go.
Jocelyne
This topic is so personal. In my feelings. How did the..what was your question Loza?
Edna
Jocelyne do not waste time, get into, yeah
Loza
I said, how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your mental health personally?
Edna
Personally
Loza
Are you okay?
Jocelyne
It hasn't affected me at all. I’m kidding. So I remember when, yeah first heard, yeah self-isolate. I was like, two weeks easy. I get two weeks off school.
Loza
Remember that
Jocelyne
I can relax. I don’t have to go all the way to the lectures. I can just attend my lectures on Zoom with half my top off and the other one nothing. So it was amazing, you know. And then eventually…eventually, this kept on being prolonged. Two weeks, turned to three extra weeks. And then it turned out two years, almost three years. I personally…the moment I clocked that I'm going to do my master's in my room, I don't know, that hit me hard. That I'm going to do the Master’s that I applied for, and I was so excited to do and I was so excited to travel to South Africa, and all the projects that they had in my room, in my room.I feel like it kind of triggered some mental health issues that I never thought I had. I'm not going to lie. I think before I was like mentally okay. I mean, most of the time I would say I was mentally okay. But I think during the pandemic, I had a lot of time to think. I had so much time. Even though I had a lot of work, I still would spend so much time alone that I have so much time to think and reflect. Which is usually good cause then you get to think and reflect, right?
But then too much self-isolation is not good, because then I started developing some toxic patterns over thinking everything. Overthinking, literally every single thing. My work, my friendships, my education, my career, my family, everything was just… I had so much time to think about everything, and it just kind of made me, depressed. I don't know, a little depressed for a bit. But, I mean, eventually I should have sought therapy, and I think I still should.
Loza
That's what we recommend.
Jocelyne
Recommend. I kind of developed some journaling habits. Journaling even, like, just because especially, I started living alone as well, speaking to myself, being as interactive with myself as possible and journaling. And also, like, staying busy, like going to the gym, doing dance. Like, dance that’s been my therapy. Like, I was doing some dance therapy sessions, during the pandemic. But it was not only satisfying, it was for me as well.That’s it, that’s all you’re getting
Loza
A journey
Edna
Yes a whole journey
Loza
A journey and a half man. Yeah, some relatable things in there.
Edna
Definitely. definitely. No, I can resonate with a lot of that. Yeah, for me as well. It was the same thing of like, when we were just told at first that it's just two weeks lockdown, and you're like, oh, that's fine. Two weeks. I could… deserve a little two weeks break. In fact, I'm thinking, I usually don't like this whole cycle of busyness in this world. Like, now we have two weeks where we kinda all have to slow down. So, I was like, great.
Jocelyne
Edna, sorry to interrupt, I remember you saying that, “Oh, I'm not meant for labour”
Edna
Did I say that?
Jocelyne
Yeah
Damn, maybe I was watching too many of those Tik Toks?
Loza
Yeah, yeah,. I miss that era.
Edna
Yeah, maybe I was too much on that wave. Yeah. So I remember, I think I started pretty early on the whole, like, okay, I adapted to doing my workouts at home because I used to go to the gym, but I was like, hey, now I can do my workouts at home. I was watching all those videos, you know, all these workouts that didn't require equipment. I was like, great.
Journaling as well. I started journaling at the beginning of, like, lockdown because now, like, I have time to journal and be in my thoughts, be in my feelings. Let's get into it. So that was great. But then that just got old. Then the whole back and forth with the lock..with, like, coming out of lockdown, measures being eased, and then going back into lockdown. That's what got me in the end. Because it was like it was so much I was looking forward to doing. Now I'm like, okay, yes, we had time to slow down, but now I'm ready to get back into the world and see my friends and go places, do things. But then the lockdowns kept on coming. And, yeah, that was what really, I think demotivated me towards the end. And I had the same point of realisation with Jocelyne of like, I'm just going to do the rest of my degree in this room.
Jocelyne
I don’t know why, but it hits hard.
Edna
It hits hard, it hits very hard. Literally, now what I do is I wake up, I walk to my desk, and then I'm back to my bed. I'm like, that is my new life.
Jocelyne
That’s my whole lifestyle.
Edna
That's my whole lifestyle now.
Loza
Ah y’all..
Jocelyne
I enjoy a busy lifestyle. Going to school every day, going to uni everyday, doing different things. I had to stay in my room. Be in my room. Do everything in my room.
Edna
Exactly. So it was that realization. And that's when I was like, yes, most times I'm usually like, I like to be chill. I don't like to be too busy. But then that's when I started to realise, like, okay, I don't realise these things that help in terms of keeping me motivated to do things like, yes, being able to say, okay, I have my lecture at this time, and that time. Then I'm going to go have a coffee with this person. Then I'm going to have to go to, like, a society or club thing in the evening, and then I go back home. Like that kind of, like routine structure. I actually started to miss. And it was hard, it was just not possible to have that. And I just lost motivation to fight creative ways to do things virtually. Like, Zoom got tiring for me. So I just felt like I was in a lull of just like, I just have to continue to exist and survive, till I don’t know when.
Loza
I feel that.
Edna
Util i don’t know when
Loza
I hope it ends soon
Edna
I just hope it ends nothing less than me now.
Loza
I have nothing left in me now
Edna
Exactly. I was like, I have nothing left in me. I have nothing left in me. So, I mean, what helped was at least I'm, like, back home here with my family, and I get to be with them. I have people to speak to. There's some nice woods here so I take my nice walks there. And also, for me, the experience has been like starting work, like a full time job, like in epidemic as well, which has you know pros and cons. Yes, it's nice to work from home because the whole commute you can avoid. But it's like, I don't really get to interact with many people from my workplace. I'm just at home by myself working, and it's weird. That's my story.
Loza
Very relatable stuff. Well, I was going to sneak out of this, but I think
Jocelyne
You're not going anywhere. Spill the tea
Loza
My podcast. And I'm not gonna say nothing. Ok, well me, me, me, me. So yeah initial lockdown. They said, two weeks. I didn't believe them. I said, there's no way this virus is going to vanish off the planet of the Earth in two weeks. But I kind of even wanted the lockdown to be a little long because this was like exam season for me. So I said, I want it. I had my ideal. I was like, okay, we gonna have a nice lockdown until the end of May. And then by then we should be okay. The curve should be flat.
Jocelyne
I remember when you were leaving, I was like, you're not going to come back.
Loza
I remember because I left England, I was like, I'm not going to be locked down here by it. I went to Switzerland and I was like, I'm going to do my exams from home. You know what? This is great. I'm about to get my first easy peasy, and I thought it would be calm. And then I said, by June, everything will be fine, I'll be in the UK. I'll be having the best summer of my life. And then, you know, the curve will be flat and it won't go back up. I said, let me not think too much about that. Epidemiology, go away. I said, the car will be flat. I don't care.
June came. I was still in Geneva, and then July came, things were openish. But the cases were everywhere. And by the end of summer, there was talks of another lockdown again. So for me uni and lockdown was fine because I only had it in exam season. But then after my plan was to do a gap year, to travel, get some work experience, I wanted to work on global health, so I wanted to get field experience. All those dreams were dashed. Gone. Who is travelling in this Panasonic? Not I.
So autumn comes. That is when things got crazy, I think globally. There was lockdowns everywhere. And I was in my house trying to re-plan my gap here because everything was gone. So now I'm sitting in my home like, okay, so I got an internship. Like you said, Edna, like, not meeting your coworkers. I did that entire internship, and I met no one. I don't know anybody in that internship. It was just sometimes we see each other on Zoom. That was it.
So I did the internship, that ended, and now I'm sitting at home again, like, this pandemic is still going. You know, at some point, I got really obsessive, but as you said, you have a lot of time to think. I also had terrible, toxic patterns of thoughts that even now I'm like, working on un-doing. I am not recovered. Like, I've come out of this situation different. But on top of that, I got so obsessive over the pandemic and the curves. Every morning, the first thing I would do, I was an epidemiologist.
Jocelyne
My goodness.
Loza
Every morning, the first thing I would do is I would look at the curve in Switzerland, the UK, Ethiopia, my country. And I'll be comparing them, I'd be trying to track, like, okay, they're going up. What are the deaths looking like? And then I look at the government measures, like, what are they doing? Are they more likely to ease it? I was also kind of in a long distance relationship, so I was trying to see him. So I'm trying to figure out and our countries banned each other. No one was allowed to go anywhere.
Edna
Yeah.
Loza
All of a sudden, every morning, like, obsessively, researching. At some point, like, I really got depressed. I was like, oh, it's not changing. One month passes. The second one, the third, the fourth. And I said, okay, I'm just going to survive. And that's when I just decided, okay, I'm just going to go with this flow, and eventually it'll be over, right? And I think this year is better.
Edna
Yeah.
Loza
I think measures are a bit more consistent. Or maybe I think we learned from last year's chaos. And I think a lot of it also, like, having a little bit of a a support system with friends helped me. So we couldn't really meet inside. But we'd go to the lake in the freezing cold. I really appreciated that, to be honest, that kept my sanity. Like, the only thing we'll be going to the lake, because that's the only thing we could do. We can meet outside. We'll be doing that in January and February. And that's kind of what helped me, I guess. Just having a little bit of, like, people.
Jocelyne
I was wondering about like…So do you feel like you've had any physical…has it had any..Has the pandemic had any physical effects on you at all?
Loza
Physical effects? You know I feel like, it's aged me. I look at my picture now, or like I look at my face now, my picture from 2020, and I look like I've been through something.
Edna
Yeah
Jocelyne
I feel like it was my skin, my skin, peeling like, like the lockdown weight.
Edna
But you know what's funny for me, though? I did think as well, like, okay, at some point, I stopped the exercise, all these different things. I just could not do it. But my weight, I feel, has still, like, I don’t know it hasn't gone up as much as I expected, given that I just sit down at my desk all the time. I feel like I'm wasting away, you know what I mean?
Loza
Right.
Edna
Yeah
Loza
My weight hasn't increased to be honest. All the work I did at the gym is vanished.
Edna
Gone.
Loza
Oh, my God, I'm so weak now.
Edna
So weak
Loza
Like you said last year, my skin was bad. I had to go to a dermatologist because my face was falling apart and I couldn't do anything either.
Jocelyne
Is this normal? Like, my whole life, I've never felt like this. But I'm feeling, even the physical health effect, not just mental health, but I could see it becoming physical. Like, I personally, I gained weight. I knew I gained weight.
So I started going to the gym. Doing this left and right. But also cause I knew that like, I understand the health impacts of gym on the skin. So I was like what’s happening? Like, why am I getting these new, weird pimples? Like what’s going on. And I was like it’s a pandemic.
Edna
It’s a pandemic
Loza
And I think that's the important thing I was going to say, is to note that it's a collective trauma we're going through, and it's okay if you're feeling off, that’s kind of very normal. Anybody would…they would feel off in the situation because we are literally going through a whole virus.
Edna
I was just going to say, I thought it was interesting or, like, obviously sad to hear that you guys were like, yeah, you were actually feeling depressed and stuff like that. Because the thing for me was also like, that was what was hard to point out. It was like, it's a pandemic. So we're all going through something definitely, right? So to me, in my mind, I was like, yeah, we're all off, it’s a pandemic and stuff like that. But I would never have gone, “So, yeah, I'm like, depressed,” You know what I mean? Because I'm like, is this from the pandemic? Is this from just other life things? Is this from seasonal depression or something like that in the winters? There's no way for me to know. It's just things are not okay.
Loza
They all teamed up last year, too.
Edna
Yeah.
Jocelyne
For me, the way I knew, right? I was in denial, but it became very very clear, like, a number of times I would cry per week, it was documentable.
Loza
I started tracking it. I would cross it in a calendar. I said, today I had a breakdown.
Jocelyne
I had a breakdown. Like a normal…my daily tears routine.
Edna
Yeah
Loza
Yeah, yeah. That was…
Edna
Here we go again.
Loza
Yeah
Jocelyne
There was the time when I made one whole week without crying and I was like, “We’re doing amazing.”
Loza
Oh Jocelyne, you are literally sounding like me. That was me. I was like a good week. I think I cried only once. And that's when I stopped and I said, I'm not a crier either, what’s going on?
Jocelyne
Every little thing would just bug me. Every single thing, from the smallest thing to the biggest thing. There was a problem everywhere and I couldn't fix anything. I like being in control, I like being in control of my life. One thing I have no control over.
Loza
Yeah. It's also that loss of control. You don't know what's coming next. That adds to the anxiety as well.
Jocelyne
On top of that, the job. Hold on. Graduating, I had just finished my undergrad, my Master’s, doing dissertation, caught the corona, moved out twice, and everything was just happening in relation to the pandemic,
Loza
Right.
Edna
Yeah.
Jocelyne
So it was not…
Loza
And I think everything that we've touched upon is, sort of, kind of, it goes into the structure of the different factors that affect the mental health. So based on research, like, the first thing is social isolation, doing uni from your room, desk to laptop, that's it, nothing else that has impacts. Loss of structure. So as you said, having that little schedule, that routine and having that taken away.
Edna
Yeah.
Loza
And now you're there trying to make your own, but what routine could you make you're in your house?
Edna
Yeah.
Jocelyne
I rememberer learning how to do the splits. Loza do you remember we started learning how to do the splits?
Loza
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. I was so close. I was so close. And then I gave up.
Jocelyne
We started all kinds of challenges.
Loza
I did. I was trying to learn the splits. I was trying to do anything. A handstand, like, need some kind of goal to give you some kind of, like, endorphins cause..
Edna
Yeah.
Jocelyne
It’s the lack of achievement.
Loza
Exactly. And then also the big thing is disrupted for young people, especially disrupted transitions in life. So from high school to university or from university to getting jobs. Like, again, when I graduated, 2020, people were losing their jobs, let alone getting hired. Where are you going to go…
Jocelyne
Find one.
Loza
To find one where?
Edna
Yeah.
Loza
So all of that entirely, like, no one was prepared for. And so in the end, it's bound to affect you. But I guess to wrap it up, do you guys have any advice to give people? I mean, we’re the ones that we are not mental health professionals.
Edna
No, we're not mental health professionals
Loza
At all. But anything that helps you, that's worked for you.
Edna
I mean, yeah. I can start us off. For me, it was definitely just being able to be, like, kinder to myself, more patient, definitely giving myself more grace of like, you know, you do not have the same mechanisms you had before in terms of like the support system, being able to just go places with your friends and it'd be like not a hassle. It was like, for example, coming to visit in the UK, it was like, okay, I have to go get my COVID test. I have to go do that. There are certain things that just started requiring more and more effort and I just sort of had to recognize that and be like, listen, don't be too stressed. If you think, like, everything is so much harder now and you just feel like there's so many obstacles in your way to just get things done. That is just normal and just give myself the grace of like, yeah, everything may not work out the way you want it to work out, but there's a huge part of that that is now out of your control. And so I think, like Jocelyne, you were saying before, we tend to like to be in control of certain things in our lives, but when something like a pandemic hits, you know, people start to realize how little in life we really have control over. Like, it’s usually that way, in the end, we like to have control of the small things, but a lot of the times we have very little control, and it's just be able to accept that and give yourself the Grace of like, you know what? You're trying your best. You're trying your best in a pandemic.
Loza
Yeah.
Jocelyne
That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful Edna, beautiful. Before I give any advice, my thoughts and prayers go to people that have actually lost anyone during the pandemic. Because I can't imagine what it would be like if I lost any of my close ones. It must be devastating in this time. People that had previous mental health experiences that have previous mental health disorders, pre-existing ones that got worsened. Increased levels of domestic violence, worsening conditions, not just health conditions, mental health conditions, domestic conditions, homeless children, immigration status, all of those things were affected by the pandemic in one way shape or from.
Well we’re here, we're in 2022 and that’s what matters. We're existing. Even if you haven't achieved anything..if you even..cause I can understand that during the pandemic you will almost feel like you lost a sense of achievement..you will see people achieving stuff so you wouldn’t…you feel like, okay, maybe I haven’t achieved stuff. You being here already is an achievement, and you simply be thankful for that.
And also be kind to yourself. I say it a lot, and I'm learning how to do that. Know when it’s time to rest and adopt new patterns. Because if whatever you were doing before wasn't working, then clearly it's not going to keep on working. So find new ways to reconnect with yourself. As I said before, journaling is really good. Staying in touch with friends and family. Call your friends, call your friends, call your friends, call your family. Stay in touch with people that you love. Yeah, just look out for each other.
Loza
No, you're right, because I think we spoke from the perspective of students because that's what we are, but like, the pandemic affected people's mental health from so many different angles, and there's so many things that got disrupted that obviously are going to affect your mental health. So definitely, I think my thing is…my advice I probably should take, it is like reaching out for help, seeking help is not really weakness. Don't be afraid to do that. Acknowledge your feelings. I think a lot of times, can be in denial, like, you'll be feeling awful, you’ll be like I’m fine. I'm fine, I'm fine. But I think the first step is to acknowledge that you're not feeling okay and try to seek help. You know, that may be therapy, it could be through friends but like anything that you have access to. So..
Edna
I mean yeah, just to bring it all together I think also just linking what you Loza are just saying and what Jocelyne said, like, don’t also let the whole idea of yes, there we know…we don't want to obviously ignore the fact that there are people who actually lost people to COVID and people who couldn't even see their families to say goodbye. People who haven't seen their families in years because they couldn't travel to see them and all these different things. But it's also just like saying recognize everyone's experiences, like your experience is also just as valid you don't have to have completely been devastated lost your house and your job and been on the streets to feel as if..you know…to admit that like no, I'm depressed no, I'm very anxious no, I'm not okay no, you know I need help. It doesn't have to be the most extreme case for you to admit that you need help. Yeah.
Jocelyne
Awwww
Loza
That’s wholesome. I think that is a good note to end on, huh?
Jocelyne
This is very wholesome.
Loza
It was wholesome, you know. The personal one.
Edna
Yeah.
Loza
Maybe we'll be okay. But..
Edna
Maybe we will be okay.
Loza
But not that is a good note to wrap up on and thank you all for listening to this episode of the World Health Investigation podcast. I'm Loza.
Edna
I'm Edna.
Jocelyne
I’m Jocelyne.
Loza
And tune in next week for our next episode on World Health Investigation Podcast.
Jocelyne
And final thing, make sure you follow us on our socials. Our Instagram, whi_podcast. Twitter, whi_podcast. Facebook, World Health Investigation. LinkedIn, World Health Investigation. And subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Loza
YouTube
Edna
Yep.
Loza
And also on Spotify and Apple podcasts
Edna
Yes, Jocelyne with the plugs. We’re gonna get there.
Loza
We must, we must. think that’s all. See you all next week.