Coping with the stress of pandemic

By Tanya Connor  | The Catholic Free Press

After a stressful 2020, people are looking forward to a better new year. Reflecting the light of our faith, local clergy with a background in mental health work offer suggestions for coping and helping others with the ongoing challenges.
Psychiatric journals are saying the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most stressful events in recent history, said Deacon William M. Griffin, who served at St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish in Clinton before his retirement last year. A psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialist, he said he sees in his patients and other people what the journals say.
“The media has saturated our senses with minute details of the horrific events and statistics of this pandemic,” he said. “This has heightened our … anxiety over the imminent danger to each … of us.” Wearing masks, social distancing and quarantining has also heightened stress, which, when prolonged, can weaken the immune system and create burnout and depression.
“If we … believe that God is in charge of our lives” and we try to submit to his will, “we are better prepared to ... counteract the effects of the media and the societal fears that loom about us,” Deacon Griffin said.
“Jesus himself said that we should always keep our minds and hearts focused on him and living the Gospel life, for we do not know the day nor the hour that the Lord will call us from this world. We have the choice to trust or give in.”
Father Stephen E. Lundrigan, once a practicing psychotherapist and now pastor of Annunciation Parish in Gardner, highlighted a time to make this choice.
“Part of the normal way we get through the winter … break the monotony” is with holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s – he explained.
Christmas was different in 2020, and people expressed disappointment about not getting to see certain relatives, he noted. But he warned against giving in to the present reality, assuming that Christmas will always be like this and ceasing to look forward to it. Instead, he suggested asking, “What are we going to do to make Christmas special next year?”
Christmas is a sign of hope, he said.
“God could have come in many other ways,” he said, but he chose “to come as a baby, a sign of future hope, of something that hasn’t happened yet.” Parents do not know who their child will become, and we too place our hope in God to guide the future.
“The Incarnation of Christ brings joy, brings people together from every race … the shepherds, the Magi,” said Father Enoch K. Kyeremateng, a certified rehabilitation counselor who is chaplain of the Worcester Diocese’s African Ministry. We are freed from sin and drawn closer to Jesus. “This joyful message … is for all … But with this pandemic can we talk of ‘all’?”
Children, the elderly and those with health conditions are missing from church – and miss coming.
“They see themselves as being isolated from the joyful message,” excluded from the community, and are bored staying home, he said. “We need one another. Handshaking is a sign of welcoming. … And now, with the pandemic, we are losing ... that bond. … That physical contact … is gone.”
He said “it was very touching” to see at Christmas Mass people whom he has not seen at church since the virus-induced shut-down in March.
“Back in Africa, Christmas is a time people don’t stay at home,” he said. “They want to receive Communion that day. They want to thank the Lord for all that the Lord has done since January.” They show their appreciation by coming to church and giving gifts to the elderly.
“People are really afraid” now, but they came out because they believe “the darkness is conquered on Christmas,” he said; Jesus’ birth brings life and light. They also rejoice in the news of the vaccine, he said.
“We are looking forward” to having everyone in church, he said. “We hope life will come back to normal very soon.” He said that will bring psychological stability and a return to normal social life and will eliminate the frustration, fear, boredom, stress and loneliness brought on by the virus.
Father Lundrigan said healthcare professionals have told him they’ve seen more deaths than expected, not caused directly by the virus, but perhaps brought on by the isolation and despair it has ushered in.
It’s easy to feel despair, but he’s witnessed more resilience, he said. He thinks people are engaging their faith and refusing to be crushed by the pandemic and have adjusted to what they have to do.
Some find comfort in staying safe at home, he said. They might say they’re fine, not wanting to burden others or risk having visitors. But protection from infection doesn’t mean they don’t need affection.
Continue calling or writing to them, not assuming once is enough, Father Lundrigan suggested. Share family events and news, “making small talk they’re not getting.”
He also called for finding a balance, saying that “if you just watch the news, you’re going to think the whole world is coming apart.” He suggested “also looking at the good things that are going on.”
Father Kyeremateng said the same and suggested the following.
 “We should try to make life as normal as possible,” follow hygiene recommendations and heed information from those working to protect us, he said. But he warned against “information saturation” from personal conversations or media searches that focus solely on the pandemic.
“It is painful people are dying (and) suffering,” Father Kyeremateng said. But the pandemic has also opened our eyes to our “nothingness” before God.
“At times we pride ourselves,” he said. “We think there is nobody controlling our life.” We need to turn to God, the author of our lives, and to appreciate one another and nature.
When we’re baptized, we’re marked as belonging to Christ, Deacon Griffin said.
“In the midst of anxiety and the stresses of this world, many of us do not realize that we have, within the deepest part of ourselves, the presence of God,” he said. “We can choose to enter into that innermost sanctuary,” focus on God’s presence and ask for his help.
When we receive the Eucharist, “his presence makes us each a tabernacle and he dwells within us to grant his grace and help,” Deacon Griffin said.
“The sacrament of reconciliation also allows us to enter into the presence of Christ through the priest,” who acts in the person of Christ, the deacon said. We receive graces “to help to strengthen us in our journey through this ‘valley of tears’ until we reach our final destination, and enter into the presence of God.”