As we in South Africa head into a necessary 21 Day Lockdown, it’s hard not to feel troubled. We’ve all seen the images of empty shelves at the grocery store, and wondered: am I not panicking enough? Is there something the people bulk-buying toilet paper know that I don’t? Before you let these thoughts spin out of hand, it’s important to understand the psychology behind why you’re panicking in the first place. What’s my brain doing? First and foremost, humans like to feel a sense of control. If we can control some aspect of a stressful situation, it’s much less stressful. However, Covid-19 is different to, for example, a natural disaster or a war, because the best thing that we can do to figh
As Covid-19 continues to spread worldwide, those of us who can are practicing social distancing. This means working from home and avoiding large gatherings of people as much as possible. While this is a responsible measure intended to keep more of us healthy, social isolation can negatively impact our mental and physical health. Your brain on isolation Since humans are highly social creatures, it makes sense that a large part of our mental health revolves around social inclusion and cohesion, sometimes to the exclusion of other aspects of our health. This is why people join cults or struggle to cut out toxic family members. Intentionally isolating ourselves for the good of our community soun
