WSU expert says staying vigilant at a time of crisis is not always easy

Professor Hay, WSU's chair of mental health, says that considering the continued mental stresses of the times, coping with the associated anxiety is no easy task.

"In fact it's quite distressing to have high levels of anxiety," she said. "One of the reasons that people may appear to become complacent is because they want it to be over and they want life to be back to normal.

"There is probably quite a degree of despair and discouragement that life is not back to normal now.

"I don't think they consciously think, 'oh we're safe now, I can be complacent'. I don't think people think that way. But they may just have an unexpressed wish that things would be back to normal."

Professor Hay said she believed a lot of people were still quite anxious and were still taking a lot of precautions.

"There may be some 'complacency', but I'm not sure how much is complacency and how much is it just really hard to sustain high levels of vigilance, anxiety and social distancing over a period of time."

Professor Hay said she believed people found it hard to social distance and kept forgetting about it.

"It is hard to remember at all times to stay 1.5 meters away from everyone else," she said. "It's actually a very difficult thing for anyone to do."

Professor Hay said that it was naturally difficult for people to adapt to the times, as for the vast majority, life in a pandemic is foreign.

"There is a mantra in mental health," she said. "Grant me the wisdom to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the things that I cannot change.

"Sometimes we have to live with the things we cannot change. Sort of a mindset of accepting the uncertainty ... hoping for the best, but accepting that there may be a second wave and that there may be things that are out of our control.

Professor Hay said fear of a "second lockdown" would be common as more cases are reported.

She suggested mental preparation - even for another period of isolation - could ease anxiety.

"During the first lockdown what kept you feeling safer and staying connected with people ... keeping you sane at a time of severe isolation," she said.

"There are significant mental health impacts of being in severe isolation; loneliness, anger, despair, depression.

"If you can anticipate that and think about how you will be in that time and how you will stay connected with people - whether it is by phone or by zoom, or other ways - that is important.

"There is the idea that some things you cannot change and one thing that we cannot change is that the world is very uncertain at the moment."

Professor Hay is encouraging people to reach out and stay connected.

"Don't delay. Look after yourself; look after your health," she said. "There has been concerns that people have been perhaps not been as vigilant in looking after their health, or maybe avoiding going to doctors. Look after your health, but be sensible about it and stay safe."