Social distance: the best prescription for physical health but the worst for mental health

Like many veterans in the workforce trying to stay productive while offices, schools, and social gathering places are limiting our contact with each other, I’m trying to find my new normal. I think the social distancing preventative measures that we are all taking to flatten the curve and reduce the risks of this coronavirus will likely save a lot of people who would have otherwise died waiting for a ventilator to free up.

However, the major health issue looming (especially among our military community members at greatest risk for COVID-19) is the rapidly growing mental health problem caused by this perfect storm of contributors to suicide risk. Social distancing is the best behavioral change we can make to mitigate the spread of this deadly virus, but this isolation is the worst for anyone who is already dealing with mental health challenges.

With the financial, employment, and physical health stressors that are heightened because of COVID-19, suicide risk is now greater than it was previously. Social distancing - although needed to prevent the immediate risks of this deadly virus - is planting seeds of interwoven stressors that may lead many people to consider suicide. The American Psychological Association has defined some of the mental health risks of social isolation at https://rly.pt/SocialIsolation . Those risks are all amplified when people are worried about their family’s health, their job, the stock market and all other challenges associated with our current global situation.

So, as members of the military community, what do we do?

First, there are many ways to socialize with people without getting within coughing distance of them:
• Pick up the phone and text, call, FaceTime, etc. a fellow veteran, service member, veteran caregiver, or family member (gold star or otherwise) who may be isolated due to social distancing. Prioritize those who are likely impacted most by everything going on in the world. After that call, dial someone else that fits the same profile and make this a regular part of your day so you and those you contact will feel more connected. Finally, reach out to people that work for you and check how they’re doing.
• Share something lighthearted online like this example from CW2 Bodnar on RallyPoint - https://rly.pt/Humor
• In the case of your family, caregivers and others with whom you still have regular physical contact, look for ways to improve the quality of your time together. Play more board games, watch movies, play music, or whatever you enjoy doing together.

Second, there are veteran serving organizations out there with great people working to address this problem and help us all get through this together. Some not-for-profits with whom we work and recommend include the following:

Cohen Veterans Network has fifteen military mental health clinics across the US offering both therapy and case management services via telehealth https://rly.pt/CVNTelehealth

AAFMAA, founded in the wake of Custer’s Last Stand and serving the military community for over 141 years, continues to give the military community peace of mind today. They provide low interest loans https://rly.pt/AAFMAALoans and life insurance https://rly.pt/AAFMAALifeInsurance
for qualifying members of the military community. They also have free personal finance information at https://rly.pt/AAFMAALearningHub

Caregiver support organizations (Caregivers have a hard-enough job without COVID-19, so here are a couple resources to help this important population)
• The VA - the source of veterans’ benefits and care has resources for caregivers in need. https://rly.pt/VACaregiver
• Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving - a caregiver focused entity serving this audience for decades, founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, shared this COVID 19 focused information. https://rly.pt/RCICaregiver

Just like deployments, training exercises, and other events in our military careers that change most of our daily lives instantly, we’ll get through this together.