At long last, we seem to be turning the corner on COVID. Millions of people are being vaccinated every day. The CDC now advises that people who have been fully vaccinated can meet with each other indoors and without masks. So, there is great cause for hope. At the same time, many people are exhibiting signs of depression. Jane Rubin, Ph.D., talks about why you might have signs of depression in this time of transition.
How are your clients responding to this time of transition?
It really depends upon their age and whether they have young children at home. Of all the people I see, people who are 65 or older and have been vaccinated are experiencing the greatest sense of hope. Some of them have been able to see their grandchildren for the first time in over a year, or they anticipate being able to see them soon. Others feel much safer going to the grocery store or getting together with friends. For them, significant changes are already happening in their lives.
For younger people, things are more difficult. It may be months before they can be vaccinated. In the meantime, some of them haven’t been able to move ahead in their careers because they don’t have access to the resources they need. Scientists can’t work in their labs. Researchers can’t access library materials. They’ve also suffered in their personal lives. They haven’t been able to date or hang out with friends. More than any other group, they feel that their lives have been put on hold. Nonetheless, these clients, too, have experienced an upsurge of hope as the vaccines have become available. They have the sense that the pandemic is going to end, even as they’re impatient to get on with their lives.
The people who are having the hardest time are people with young children. Schools are starting to open up, which should come as a relief, but the situation is actually very complicated. Parents who have changed their entire work schedules since they’ve been working from home and teaching their children now have to figure out how to make time in the middle of the day to take their kids to school and pick them up since school will only be in session for a few hours. They don’t know what their kids are going to do in all the hours they’re not in school. They’re very worried about whether the school will actually be safe. These people are finding it most difficult to be hopeful. Unlike older people, they can’t get vaccinated yet, and, unlike younger people, they’ve had children at home for a year. Even though they know vaccines are on the way, in the short term their lives feel more difficult than they did even a month ago. So, it’s hard for them to really feel that there’s light at the end of the tunnel, even though they know that things are moving in the right direction.
What similarities do you see?
The biggest similarity I notice is that people do feel that help is on the way, even if it hasn’t reached them yet. Vaccines are coming. Stimulus checks are coming. We can meet with friends outdoors, which we couldn’t do in December and January. It’s impossible not to notice that things are beginning to change for the better.
Do you think people are still struggling with a sense of powerlessness?
Definitely, with respect to being able to get vaccinated. Although that situation is improving, people still spend hours trying to find out where they can get vaccinated. Then they spend more hours trying to make an appointment. I don’t know if people feel powerless, but they definitely feel frustrated. On the other hand, I do think that people are feeling less powerless than they have at any time in the last year. A year ago--even six months ago--it wasn’t clear that we were ever going to have a vaccine. Public health experts were talking about the possibility of sheltering in place in some form for three years. The vaccines have made people feel that they’re going to have much more control over their lives over the coming months.
Do you try to instill a sense of hope?
I really think it’s important, to use a cliche, to meet people where they are. So, if a client is feeling hopeless, I don’t try to redirect her towards feeling more hopeful. People need to feel that all of their feelings are valid and acceptable. At the same time, it’s recently become easier for clients, themselves, to return to a sense of hope once they’ve been able to express their sense of hopelessness. They remember how frightening and uncertain they felt when we began sheltering in place a year ago. If anyone had told us then that we’d be doing this for over a year, we wouldn’t have been able to imagine how we would do it. But we did. And now, hope is in the air. So, I don’t think I need to instill a sense of hope. I think people are increasingly feeling it as things slowly improve.
Are you struggling with symptoms of depression? Please click to learn more about depression therapy and treatment with Jane Rubin, Ph.D.Jane Rubin, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in Berkeley, California. She works with individuals in Berkeley, Oakland, the East Bay, and the greater San Francisco Bay Area who are struggling with depression and anxiety. She also specializes in working with people who are trying to find meaning and direction in their lives.