LEWISBURG – As we transition into a maskless, vaccinated world and resume normal activities after the pandemic, Psychologist at Evangelical Community Hospital Dr. Anthony Ragusea says there’s going to be a gradual adjustment period that many will experience.
“What do we do now that we’re allowed to do things? How do we go about going to restaurants again, should we just act like nothing changed, should we do something differently? Do we even remember how to throw a party anymore?”
Dr. Ragusea adds, “I think there’s going to be some awkwardness that people experience for some time.”
He says the psychological implications of the pandemic will vary from person to person depending on the types of stressors they had to endure, “Because, depending on what kind of work you did. Depending on your lifestyle, your relationships, your socioeconomic status, even your race. Just getting through this pandemic would affect you differently depending on all of those factors.”
Early on, the term ‘long haul’ widely referred to physical symptoms that lingered after someone got sick with COVID-19, but Dr. Ragusea says there are lingering mental implications that could lead to symptoms of post-pandemic trauma, “Stressors on top of stressors, on top of stressors, can become traumatic even if no single stressor is all that bad. Cumulatively, as they pile on top of each other over time, that can become a kind of trauma, for sure.”
Dr. Ragusea says that while some newer data now suggests that suicide rates actually decreased during the pandemic, it’s not to say that those serious mental health consequences haven’t been manifesting in other ways. He says psychologists will be studying these impacts for decades to come.
Dr. Ragusea was a recent guest on WKOK’s Sunrise program. You can hear the full interview on the WKOK Podcast page.
