Are the increases in anxiety and depression the symptom of a greater cause?
That's a question posed by Piatt County Mental Health Center Executive Director Tony Kirkman who wonders if those things are a greater symptom of trauma exposure COVID has brought to bear.
On the WHOW Morning Show, Kirkman wonders if an aspect of learned helplessness is setting in. He says it is a mentality that no matter what a person does, their circumstances are not going to change.
Kirkman expressed his deep concern for our youth because of the lack of play they have had in the last few years. He explains playing with their peers is a huge part of the development of a child.
For Kirkman, this trauma has caused people to become more irritable and more confrontational. He believes a lot of people have lost the grit they could tap into before COVID.
We're all going through this situation together and Kirkman encourages anyone who feels they may need an outside perspective to seek out clinical health. He's been reading a lot about the correlations between gut health and mental health and says there is research to suggest when we are anxious or depressed we feel it in our gut and he encourages people to slow down the self-medicating and get some sunlight and move.
