"Q&A Shenzhou" interviewed Lu Lin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University
In the interview, Lu Lin mentioned that due to online classes and lack of physical activity, adolescents and peer communication have decreased, and among the patients treated in the past two years, adolescents have increased by 30%. WHO reports a 25% increase in anxiety disorders (close to 100 million) and 60 million people with depression globally each year compared to before the outbreak.
Wu Xiaoli: The new crown epidemic has entered its third year, do you think there are any changes in the psychology of the people about the epidemic now?
Lu Lin: Some people have been patient with the epidemic, which often goes back and forth, and everyone needs to be isolated... Many people think of this as part of our work, our lives, and even our lives, but there are new situations.
Wu Xiaoli: For example?
Lu Lin: We have visited patients who came to the hospital in 2020 affected by the epidemic, and based on the recent return visit data, we found that these problems have not been alleviated. At the beginning of the epidemic, there were many anxious people, and after a year, the number of anxious people decreased, but the depressed people did not change, and the number of people with insomnia increased, which exceeded our expectations.
Wu Xiaoli: How much impact will this epidemic have on children?
Lu Lin: The biggest impact of this epidemic is among adolescents and the elderly, followed by adults, which is the consensus of experts around the world. The elderly themselves are sensitive and vulnerable, and they may be inconvenient to move, plagued by diseases, and need more help, but they are powerless. We recently had a study by an international collaboration that found that children and adolescents suffering from severe illness caused by the new crown virus and causing a much lower mortality rate than adults and the elderly, but the impact on their long-term mental health is even higher than that of adults.
The fear and dread generated by the covid-19 pandemic may leave a shadow in his heart for the rest of his life. Parents or epidemic prevention personnel should explain to him correctly, tell him what the epidemic is, and after contracting the virus, you need to isolate, this isolation is temporary, and you will recover. A child under the age of six cannot take care of himself, and what he needs most is the company of his parents, so he cannot be one-size-fits-all.
If the child or parent is positive in isolation, it is not very scientific to separate the parent from the child. People are emotional animals, and they must communicate with the outside world, with their relatives, with people they trust. When a person does not communicate with others for a long time, he or she does not communicate, the person either has problems with himself or is not prone to problems.
We have long suggested that in isolation, including two couples, parents, and good friends, if the epidemic prevention and control cannot live in the same house, it is also necessary to communicate by video anytime, anywhere, every day, which is an effective way to reduce psychological trauma.
On March 21, 2022, the news of the crash of a Passenger Plane of China Eastern Airlines shocked the whole country. Previously, the record of 4227 days of safety and accident-free and the world's first record maintained by Civil Aviation of China was cleared.
On March 26, 132 passengers and crew on board confirmed all of them were killed.
Wu Xiaoli: The disaster of China Eastern Airlines this time has caused great social repercussions, why is this time giving everyone such a strong impact?
Lu Lin: Everyone has not experienced such a thing for more than ten years, this is the first; second, this air crash is very tragic, everyone sees the plane crashing into the ground in a straight line through the video, and feels that the hope of passengers surviving is not great, and this is also the case; third, the current society and the world are facing too much uncertainty, and everyone has become particularly sensitive to pain and disaster. For example, the Russo-Ukrainian war will have a direct impact on international trade, energy, food, etc., during which there will be air disasters, many people will have a sense of substitution, and then there will be substitution trauma.
Wu Xiaoli: Do you think the psychological rescue after the disaster of China Eastern Airlines was very timely?
Lu Lin: This time our country's psychological rescue is very timely, and on the second day, we set up a psychological rescue team, with sixty doctors from Guangxi and Guangzhou engaged in psychological rescue.
Wu Xiaoli: What kind of role does the Sixth Courtyard of Peking University play in this?
Lu Lin: Our Sixth Hospital of Peking University is a national psychological rescue team, which mainly gives some guidance, such as the psychological rescue intervention program on the spot.
Wu Xiaoli: So the Sixth Academy of Peking University first does the process and standardizes so that everyone can follow it.
Lu Lin: Right.
Wu Xiaoli: So what is the difference between the process of psychological rescue in an air disaster and others?
Lu Lin: We have some guiding principles, such as a person who is in the process of grief over the loss of a loved one, and we ask psychological rescue workers to give them companionship and support, not to intervene in him. When a person is extremely miserable about the loss of a loved one, there is a process in his psychology. If this process is artificially interrupted, one will not achieve the effect, and the other will leave him with future sequelae. This pain of his is a process that needs to be walked out and then slowly recovered.
Wu Xiaoli: We have some post-90s colleagues who will have flyphobia because of this matter, worried that their relatives or themselves will encounter such things. In a situation like this, what steps can they take to slowly restore their mental health?
Lu Lin: We have a standard for this situation. Our fellow citizens lose their lives, we sympathize with even fear, we are afraid, and it is normal to grieve for a while, but this time cannot last too long. If the duration is too long, affecting their life, work, rest, become afraid of flying, afraid of taking the car, this is a psychological problem, this needs to find a doctor to intervene.
We encounter all kinds of things every day in this world, our pain, sadness are normal reactions, if this time lasts a long time, then this disaster is just an inducement, maybe there is a potential problem in our psychology itself.
Repeated epidemics, Russian-Ukrainian conflicts, China Eastern Airlines disasters... A series of public events occur, so that individuals have a deep sense of powerlessness against grand public events, and society generally produces "political depression".
Wu Xiaoli: In this kind of low pressure, how do individuals face "political depression"?
Lu Lin: After the epidemic passed, the psychological problems in our society have not improved significantly. The number of patients in psychiatry and psychology has increased significantly, but we do not want it to increase in a straight line, preferably a gentle increase.
Wu Xiaoli: What measures have we taken to make it smooth?
Lu Lin: The most effective thing is prevention and popularization of knowledge. We have a Healthy China Initiative to let you know how we can prevent anxiety, depression and insomnia. The state has also been taking steps, and we hope to train more doctors to deal with this.
Wu Xiaoli: When I interviewed you earlier, you said that you wanted to establish a national psychological crisis intervention center.
Lu Lin: This goal has not yet been fully realized, which requires a special team and system. For example, before the Sixth Hospital of Peking University encountered such a disaster, we would send doctors to support almost all disasters in China, but it was not a professional organization.
Our country has developed to a certain extent and needs a professional team, but this professional team needs training, and the country needs to increase investment and increase sectors.
Wu Xiaoli: Especially psychological rescue, it is actually a long-term process.
Wu Xiaoli: Young people often say that they have emo, how can they get these young friends out of bad emotions?
Lu Lin: First, we are happy or unhappy every day, we have gains and losses or not losses, whether the work is good or bad, and how much money we make is temporary. Each of us has to train ourselves, a momentary setback, a momentary misfortune, may pass. Second, we need to master some simple skills, life skills, mental health skills. When a person works overtime desperately, stays up until the middle of the night without sleeping, and a person is lonely for a long time and has no exercise for a long time, it will aggravate these negative emotions. A person who exercises regularly, a person who trains often, a person who runs regularly, his heartbeat can be slowed down when he is quiet. When our heartbeat slows down, it stabilizes our emotions.
There is a concept in psychology that when you tell others about your troubles, your troubles will be alleviated a lot. If someone experienced, he is there for you, this sharing will also make your pain less. It's not like a material thing where you give someone an apple and your apple is less; you tell someone about your emotions and then you lighten yourself.
Wu Xiaoli: For a doctor of mental and mental health, you are worried that in the next three to ten years, if the mental health of the Chinese people is not actively intervened and treated, there will be a bigger problem.
Lu Lin: At present, the whole society's understanding of mental health is not enough, because the time we have begun to pay attention to mental health is not too long, that is, in the last one or two decades, mental health is something that everyone may encounter, it is not a mysterious problem, nor is it an unattainable problem.
If he does not understand scientific knowledge, is unwilling to ask for help, and even adopts a skeptical, evasive, and biased view, it will become a chronic disease, and even an extreme event will occur. Therefore, I hope that the public will really face and accept mental health problems, understand how to self-maintain themselves, and ensure their mental health.
Watch the full interview video
Monday, April 11 at 20:30 p.m
Phoenix TV Chinese
Editor: Ma Majin
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