Observations from the most locked down city in the world as it relates to well being and mass hysteria.

The world catastrophe had been declared and the leaders of nations responded as they saw fit. The media covered the story and the people were informed. Only, in this day and age, the leaders must be mindful of their conglomerate alignments and the media has limitations as to how they tell the story because of the agendas of their financial backers. This meant that there was one hard official narrative and other alternative variations of the available facts and factoids. Youtube went off with patchwork quilts of various stories and conspiracies creatively woven together and would-be leaders jumped in to have their say too. Alternative media outlets attempted to balance out the coverage of what was really going on and even religious leaders and their followers jumped in. All of a sudden ‘science’ was the answer to everything, yet no real scientific discussions were being had. It was a frenzy of fear and all sides peddled their versions and all sides have fuelled the mass hysteria.

As it happened, I was in the most locked down city in the world. My general attitude was to stay in the middle ground and not buy into any extremes, so as to maintain a healthy balance in both my thinking and my life. I felt that there was not enough evidence and too much hype to actually makes sense of what was fact and what was fear. I could see the clashing agendas of conglomerates in amongst the politicians stances. I could see the unhealthy health ministers and the power hungry hopefuls. However, I was not ok with forcing anyone to do anything, as I knew this was not how free countries where run, so I did my best to stay ‘safe’ and abide without buying into any of the division. This was short lived as the local politicians took draconian measures, whilst the federal politicians stepped back and the fearful people took opposing sides. It was impossible to escape the conversation, the questions and everyone seemed to want to know what side was I on.

In my undergraduate degree in anthropology, I learnt about political power tactics and uses of fear to control the masses. In my masters degree in social work, I was taught to stand up for the vulnerable and advocate for social justice. I briefly had a role as a social worker for the towers and watched people deteriorate from isolation and mismanagement. Then I had role as a youth counsellor, where I worked with families experiencing domestic violence (which sky rocketed during this time). I was part of a team that had a firm policy in not rewarding coercive tactics or fear based power plays. Yet, by the end of my time in the locked down city, I had witnessed first hand, fear mongering, division, subjugation, medical apartheid and chronic coercion, resulting in the rapid decline in peoples mental health. I saw how truly destructive poor leadership tactics are and how people can be divided and reduced by fear. The last shred of credibility main stream media had vanished and any intelligent discussions regarding this event were squashed and dismissed as conspiracy or far right thinking. The world had gone mad and I have been on the frontline watching it.

Although the official statistics do not represent it, suicidal ideation has risen tremendously, anxiety and depression is common place and many have families have been torn apart by fear fuelled political division. People who were previously well balanced and functioning members of society are now experiencing agoraphobia and various forms of anxiety; predominantly social anxiety. No matter which ‘side’ of what people have found themselves, the fear is palpable. At no point was there any comfort or assurance by the leaders, only hard lines, threats and bickering amongst themselves. This nation has been forever changed and its people are scarred and the trust in our leadership has been irreparably damaged. The fall out from this is likely to last for years and money is being thrown at mental health almost as an after thought.

I now work from home as a phone counsellor and take calls from people experiencing mental health issues. Often I hear people asking ‘where has the care gone from our health care systems’? So often I hear of how they feel the system is failing them and how compassion and customer service has disappeared. Too often do I hear people in fear and now not trusting the people in charge. The drugs don’t fix the people who are in this broken system. The medical ‘solutions’ are not solving much. We now have a health system, not a health CARE system. We now have mechanised processes to process people through rather than actually offer care. Of course burn out has become common place after what we have endured, but I believe that the state of things reflects the predominant attitudes of the leaders of this nation. So long as it looks good on paper and all the boxes are ticked then that is all that seems to matter. Peoples voices are dismissed and profits are the only concern.

I see some hope as at grass roots levels there are people pulling together to offer community support as the systems can no longer be relied upon. I know within the systems there are individuals who still care, but they are tired and worn down from this broken system. I would like to say I have some hope that things will improve and that managerialism will be put aside so as to make room again for human compassion; especially in the health care systems. At the moment, to even bring up these topics for discussion has you labelled as an extremist. Social science is about discussions and learning from human behavioural patterns as the pendulum swings from one ideal to the other. There needs to be open discussions about matters like this so as we can come to a balanced conclusion and develop constructive and relevant ways forwards.

It may be too soon to ask, but I will anyway. Is profit going to always triumph over people? Are we content to live in a society that processes people for conglomerates gains? Did anyone stop to think of the long term mental health of our people? Can we really keep being led by salesmen and their short sighted, profit driven, narrow visions? From now on, is our health care system going to process people or care for them? Or finally, can we learn from this and build a better society that considers its peoples well being and not just economic viability?

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