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May 28, 2020

Workplace stress in the COVID crisis: It’s all in your mind

Screen shot of clinical psychologist Seville from Wednesday morning’s GNHCC conversation on workplace mental health.
By Michael C. Bingham

By vaporizing the barriers between workplace and home, the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound mental-health consequences for workers and others in Connecticut and beyond.

That was the consensus of a Wednesday morning panel discussion on “Mental Health Awareness During COVID-19: Back to Work with Courage, Compassion & Determination” in recognition of May as national Mental Health Awareness Month.

The event was sponsored by the Human Resource Council and the Non-Profit Resource Council of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce as part of its “Councils & Conversation” series. GNHCC President and CEO Garrett Sheehan moderated the conversation.

Newly untethered from both their physical work spaces and the chronological boundaries of the 9-to-5 weekday work week, many professional people in the first weeks of the COVID shutdown experienced increased anxiety, depression and fear. So observed clinical psychologist Corrine Seville, who heads the adult outpatient behavioral health program for the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center in New Haven. The onset of the pandemic was “incredibly destabilizing,” she said. Now, even two months later, “People are still very scared and looking for reassurance.”

For both patients and her own staff, Seville said she counsels, “Number one, to focus on what we have control over in order to try to make this overwhelming situation” more manageable in order to function day to day. It’s important to acknowledge that “We don’t have all the answers,” she said.

Peter Schorr is president and CEO of Retreat Behavioral Health, which treats people with mental health and substance-abuse problems. “Our mental-health therapists are seeing a lot more people coming in who are dealing with everyday problems that are causing extreme anxiety,” he said, “leading people to act out and do things that they normally do.” For example, alcohol abuse nationwide has soared in the ten weeks since the shutdown began.

What should employers be on the lookout for? Seville said that regular Zoom conferences with staff help to maintain a sense of team and togetherness. But it’s not the same as being together in-person.

“Conversation is important,” she said, “but so much conversation happens non-verbally. If you only hear what someone is saying [on teleconferences or Zoom] but you’re not seeing them [in person], you’re missing at least half of the conversation.”

Moreover, she added, “When you’re in the office every day, the day is full of distractions and those distractions give you a break. Those things help you relieve stress and to process experiences.” Working remotely, “We’ve lost this,” she said.

“It’s harder to compartmentalize [our lives] working from home.” Seville says she values  her 45-minute commute to and from her New Haven workplace for the opportunity it affords for focusing on the tasks of the workday that lies ahead, and for decompressing from the stress of workplace demands and conflicts on the ride home. In the absence of that interregnum, there’s no chronological moat between work and not-work.

Which is bad, because the physical barrier has already been breached. “Our homes don’t feel like a sanctuary any more,” Seville said. Because they’re not. Thank you, Zoom.

It’s not just space, but also time, that has assumed new dimensions. For many, work has expanded to dominate practically every waking hour. And it’s not just the clock, but the calendar that has changed.

“Our holidays like Memorial Day and Mother’s Day, our celebrations, birthdays — these things are anchors,” Seville said. “They’re how we measure time.”

But while we are physically isolated, birthdays, holidays and anniversaries have lost their meaning as communal celebrations are shelved in deference to social distancing — at least for the time being. Instead, we must find “new ways to celebrate, new things to look forward to,” Seville said.

“We’re encouraging people to seek those out and try new things,” she added.

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