After this coronavirus lockdown, are you feeling scared? Are you afraid to go out and mingle with people or go shopping, thinking you might catch the virus? Are you anxious and afraid of the world around you? If you don’t feel affected, then you’ve done well. But there are many people who think differently about the world around them. It is because your thinking and perceptions are affected and therefore your mental health.
There are various types of thinking involved. We have emotional thinking, philosophical thinking, scientific thinking, bureaucratic thinking, political thinking, intuitive thinking, rational thinking, wishful thinking, etc.
Each type of thought can take an individual in different directions and jump to different conclusions. But if he is interested in improving his mental health, rational thinking is the way to clear up the confusion and chaos in his mind. Rational thinking takes into consideration all other types of thinking.
First, let’s consider emotional thinking. Here you are doing what your heart says. There is no rhythm or reason involved. You will not be open to any sensible arguments or suggestions. If you go this route, be prepared for headaches and tears.
Then there is philosophical thinking. Here you are involved in trying to find your reason for being in this world and how you can organize and live your life according to some set principles for you to follow. It can be a way to create an illusion.
In scientific thinking, we are interested in understanding the nature of things and our physical world and how the forces of nature affect us physically and mentally. There are many people who claim to be scientists but are actually pseudoscientists. They hide behind science and use science as an ego-boosting exercise. Therefore, any scientist who ignores the mental side of his being is likely to have little insight into his mind. When one has little or no knowledge of oneself, one can quickly become a bureaucrat. We see this in evidence in all parts of the world.
Of course, the most powerful and influential thought is legal thought, which is bureaucratic thought. It has a powerful conditioning effect on the individual. Since we need the rule of law to run any society, we formulate rules and regulations for ourselves to avoid chaos. Therefore, where there is a traffic intersection, for example, we put up a STOP sign. Where we see any danger on the road, we put up a speed limit sign. All of this is to help us use our common sense. So if you are in a traffic intersection, you should look left and right before entering. Also, if there is a speed limit of 100 km per hour, it does not mean that one has to drive at 100 km per hour. One has to consider road conditions at whatever speed one may be driving. Once again, one can see that we have to use our common sense in everything we do.
However, this legal thinking has a major drawback. That is, when we apply the law in any situation, only the letter of the law is followed. There are no considerations for the use of moral, common sense or ethical principles. It is a simplistic thought that limits one’s intelligence. Therefore, when we come to a STOP sign, it literally means stop even if there is no traffic. The vehicle must not be moving, and if you drive slightly above the 100 km per hour speed limit sign, it means you are breaking the law. You will be penalized. We call this bureaucratic thinking.
The reason for this type of bureaucratic thinking in law where only the letter of the law applies and not the spirit, is to avoid any argument or confusion. It protects the people who manage the code from any prosecution. All they have to do is stick to the letter of the law, and no one will blame them if something goes wrong. It also induces in some people authoritarian and intimidating behavior because they feel empowered to be able to enforce the law. So, does it mean that if you stick to the letter of the law you can’t go wrong?
Let’s see what the coronavirus crisis did to the medical profession. Once upon a time there was a direct doctor-patient relationship. The need for euthanasia laws, for example, did not arise because the doctor did what was clinically best for the patient. Now, with consumerism and litigation laws in place, medical thinking has changed. Physicians have become bureaucratic thinkers. They are conditioned to think that they have to save lives no matter the cost, even if they see a patient in pain starving to death with a terminal illness.
So when the coronavirus arrived on the scene, it scared doctors with the way it spread and caused deaths. They feared that hospitals and health systems could not cope with the resources they had. So they advised governments to lock down. Governments were also scared. Faced with the choice between saving human lives and damaging the economy, they saw no alternative but to go into lockdown. It would have been political suicide if they did not take action. Do you think it was a rational decision? Remember, the damage to the economy will have far greater significant consequences for society than all the lives saved from Covid-19. There will be long-term consequences for physical and mental health in terms of poverty, crime, violence and suicides.
With the closure came more rules and regulations. Bureaucratic controls are applied and businesses close. People are out of work. The media have a field day reporting on the progress of the virus. Every day, 24 hours a day, on the radio, television and newspapers you can only hear about the virus. Now it seems that everyone is scared. Covid-19 has become the bogeyman of the 21st century. Unwilling to admit its overreaction, the medical profession continues to justify its action by implying that this virus is different from the influenza virus. All of his research seems to be aimed at validating his bureaucratic thinking. Many people who died of other causes but tested positive for coronavirus are included in their statistics.
Scared politicians also justify their actions by using the virus as a bogeyman. Now they have found a way to control the population. The bureaucrats who have wrecked the economy are proudly pointing out how successful they have been in protecting them. They are already taking credit for starting to rebuild the economy. Yes, you can never win against bureaucracy. Meanwhile, he is warned that if he does not follow his instructions, the boogeyman will catch him.
So let’s take a look at this boogeyman. It is infection by the Covid-19 virus. There is no known cure for any viral infection. Like the influenza virus, it kills people. All virus infections tend to spread, so one should expect this virus to spread. All the measures we have taken only slow down the virus. They do not remove or kill the virus. Like any virus, this Covid-19 will affect people with a weak immune system. The elderly and people with comorbidities are more affected than the young. When we return to normalcy in socialization, this flat curve of infection is sure to increase. Like the influenza virus, it will come and go.
Does it mean then that the country has to go back into lockdown when the contagion curve goes up? If someone tests positive for Covid-19 at a workplace, does that mean we have to shut down the entire place? If a child tests positive for Covid-19 in a classroom, do we close the entire school? If someone who feels perfectly healthy and who has a Covid-19 App on her mobile receives a message that she was close to a Covid-19 positive person. You are advised to get tested for the virus. What should you do? Aren’t we going to create anxiety for that person until the test is done? Isn’t this like asking a person to point to himself with a bone? Is this the way forward to improve the mental health of society? Is this the way of the future?
Surely we have to accept the fact that we have to take risks all the time in our daily lives. When we cross the street, we take a risk. When we drive a car, we take risks. Also when we travel by bus or plane, we take risks. So why have we turned this coronavirus into a bogeyman? Since the medical profession is the guardian of people’s physical and mental health, shouldn’t it be involved in protecting us from this specter instead of joining politicians in promoting it?
Fear is man’s worst enemy. It creates negative feelings and thus leads to adverse action. We have to face it, not accept it. The medical profession should educate the public about the virus, not help create bogeymen to look under their beds. Also, doesn’t the media have any responsibility in all this?
There will be more viruses to come to infect society in the future. Are we going to go into lockdown every time? Remember, a frightened mind is a mind that suffers from a perceptual disorder. How can he be expected to think rationally?