Isolation and Loneliness Can Be Hard During the Pandemic: Here Are Ways to Cope

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is advising against traveling for Thanksgiving since COVID-19 infections and death rates continue to rise in the United States. While millions of Americans are still disobeying the advisory and roam anyway, other people have been seriously taking the CDC's advisory and taking shelter for turkey day.

While it is difficult for people to socially isolate throughout the pandemic, it may be the hardest on older people living alone. It isn't just COVID-19 that is a danger to health. According to the CDC, isolation, and loneliness, too, can present severe health problems for seniors.

At the University of Cincinnati, an assistant professor of behavioral science and a psychiatrist at the Lindner Hope Center in Mason, Ohio, Dr. Shana Feibel, deals primarily with elderly patients. She told a news outlet that isolation is the most challenging aspect of the coronavirus pandemic for most of them.

"Many of them are used to socializing with friends, going to religious functions, and keeping busy by volunteering," she stated. "Now with COVID, most of these options are closed to them. In addition, while younger patients are able to use the internet and can socialize through Zoom and other platforms, many geriatric patients either do not have access to a computer or do not know how to use one."

Ways to overcome isolation and loneliness are mentioned below.

1. Limit your intake of news

Staying up to date on the coronavirus crisis is crucial, but unplugging from it is also vital. A licensed social worker in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Shari Botwin, recommends flipping to the TV with concerns in mind and switching it off until those questions are answered.

2. Clarify what you expect from your family

In Ridgeland, Mississippi, Dea Dean, a licensed professional counselor, recently reported that she sometimes heard from her senior clients that they do not want to bother their families. Elderlies mask their need for interaction so that they don't have to annoy others. However, this is a quick way of slipping into isolation. A better alternative, Dean proposed, is to specify what you want from your family and to be as honest as possible about that.

3. Communicate your feelings to someone

As attempting to speak with others in isolation helps, one of Botwin's patients who has also been dealing with depression feels less lonely.

4. Validate your feelings

Perhaps the most crucial thing you have to take is acknowledging these emotions, whether you feel sad, frustrated, nervous, or all of the above and much more. Don't start to force or neglect them, no matter how difficult they could be.

"These feelings are real and need to be honored," a psychotherapist and retirement coach in New York City, Phyllis Diamond, LCSW, stated. "It's not healthy to pretend you are OK when you're not. One way people cope is to just 'get through the day.' That's not the optimal solution."