Viral Vicissitudes

2020 - International Year of the Nurse (Twist of Fate?)        It's January 30, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland and the Executive Board of the World Health Assembly just designated this year as the "International Year of the Nurse and Midwife", in part to honor the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale (knowing her general makeup, I'm not sure she would want so much fanfare except for the 'light' it casts on nursing).        On May 12th of this year, just five days shy of International Nurses Day, I hailed their historic and more recent feats of 'health care heroism' in this space (see "From Cheers to Jeers?!"). I return, prompted by reading the most recent issue of "Pulse" (Journal of Oakland University School of Nursing), to highlight a few additional points of history not only relevant to this time honored profession (Gallup polls continue to rank nursing the highest in honesty and ethics among the various professions), but also...

Battle of the Sexes and COVID-19: The 'Great Equalizer'?        As we continue to witness and endure the effects of the pandemic, a repeating theme of national and international news includes the disparity of experiences along demographic, ethnic, and gender categories. My goal in this limited space is to highlight just one trend that pre-existed COVID and is likely to persist for decades, which is the noteworthy comparison of the 'caregivers' and cared for'.        In the home, about town, around the world - I offer a few statistics for your consideration here: The health care industry as a whole is made up of about 75% females, who also make up a larger portion of decision making positions, except in executive roles. As we have also been reminded recently, 'frontline' workers as a whole are also predominantly female (e.g. ranging from health professionals to child care, elder care, grocery clerks, cleaning crews, etc.). In the home, women ...

Marking Time II: A COVID Calendar(?) May 20, 2020 News: "For the first time since 1931 the Triple Crown horse races will be run out of order..."        Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the origins of our current calendar, which is essentially based on the number of days it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. But just in case, a brief refresher: while there were other calendars before his time, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar in 45 BCE (hence, the "Julian" calendar). Eventually, in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII  gained support for additional reforms, which resulted in the calendar we use today ("Gregorian"), but it took over 300 years for most countries to adopt it (one highlight of this change resulted in April fools day😊). In China, a nation of frequent interest in our news cycle, they also track time by a twelve year zodiac cycle, with each year being represented by an animal and its reputed attributes (this being the yea...

In Defense of Anxiety: When I entered the field of professional psychology (c. 1976) one of the major topics of study and practice included "Stress Management". Articles, seminars, and clinical approaches were plentiful, devoted to understanding the sources, effects, and methods to manage the STRESSORS in our lives. Then along came ANGER MANAGEMENT! Depending on your age, you will readily recall articles, interventions, and even humorous movies depicting attempts to mitigate (does this word ring familiar?) the destructive elements of anger (remember "Anger Management" starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler?). This includes specific interest in ROAD RAGE!, an area of ongoing concern, even as people are driving less during the pandemic. More recently, the trend has actually returned to stress in the form of ANXIETY, which has become one of my favorite topics, how it can play both a disruptive but also (underappreciated) positive force in our lives. Such popular mo...

All the (Un)usual Suspects: COVID-19 and Typhoid Larry?!        'All the usual suspects' is a phrase associated with forensic science, which of course attempts to solve crimes through the systematic gathering of evidence. With 'crimes of passion', there is a fairly high degree of probability that you could be harmed by someone you know (perhaps even trust), as it is within these relationships that passion is more often generated. In contrast, as crime becomes more 'random' in various communities, it becomes more challenging to predict your assailant, and people therefore tend to experience more apprehension and insecurity. Now consider how these respective conditions play out in coping with various health conditions, diseases, and even pandemics . In an analogous manner to forensic science, practitioners in epidemiology and infectious disease seek to identify patterns of diseases and their modes of transmission, ultimately to identify methods of eradication a...

The 'Mother' of All Pandemics: An animated debate has already ensued among scientists, journalists, and among us, the 'unwashed', as to where the current pandemic will end up in the rankings of health related calamities. A debate that will persist many decades, I imagine. Beyond debate is the special place and powerful force mothers have always represented in our world.         The origin of Mother's Day, of course, can be traced back as far as the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the roots of the more modern version of Mother's Day can also be traced back in the UK where a Mothering Sunday was celebrated well before Woodrow Wilson signed the Joint Resolution in 1914 (or four years before the Great Pandemic of that era), designating the second Sunday in May as a day the United States would set aside to celebrate mom (then along came Hallmark to really institutionalize it!). A few decades after President Wilson's proclamation, a dramatic event unfolded whic...

The Ignaz Semmelweis Award: Project yourself into the future (circa 2050 or so) and that you are in a discussion about current health issues or science in general, and the subject of the "Great Pandemic of 2020" comes up. As part of your discussion you inevitably resort to criticism of how various institutions mishandled the crisis: "How could they have not seen...?!; How could they be so dumb...? Now, take a step back in time to circa 1847 when a Hungarian physician, Ignaz Semmelweis, attempted to persuade the medical community to pay better attention to a sterile hospital environment. Specifically, he demonstrated that the mortality rates for mothers delivering babies in the doctors' section of the hospital was three times that of the midwives' section, and that the mortality rates could be greatly reduced by handwashing (with chlorinated lime solution, back in his day). Before you exclaim duh?! you may be shocked to find out he was mocked and shunned by the ...

Marking Time: "Wake me up when it's all over!" vs. "OMG, I have more I want to do!" As the current pandemic has progressed, I have been witness to a range of responses from people as to how they have coped with the uncertainties associated with the virus and recommended safeguards (hence, "Viral Vicissitudes"), as well as with the quarantine dimension in particular. Especially after the first few weeks, many of you began complaining of boredom, finding yourselves sleeping excessive amounts while not feeling rested, and otherwise bewildered. Which brings to mind the story a distant relative(?), Washington Irving, wrote about a fictional character, Rip Van Winkle. Partly an attempt to 'distance' from an annoying spouse, he wandered off and fell into a deep sleep under a tree, waking twenty years later, only to discover he missed the American Revolution, among other personal milestones. On the other hand, I have also talked with many who have ex...

From Cheers to Jeers?! We are in the midst of National Nurses Week which in turn, of course, finds ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. Nurses in particular have found themselves not only on the front lines of COVID-19 patient care, but also in the headlines of daily news. They have been hailed as "Health Care Heroes" and lauded through free meals, vehicle processions, and spontaneous applause. All welcome, of course. While not as numerous, there have been reports and first hand testimonies of nurses being ridiculed or targets of aggression for spreading the virus and/or their complaints regarding a lack or protection. All deplorable, of course. From my numerous encounters and in depth conversations with nurses throughout the last few months, the primary repeating emphasis is reflected in this quote from last week: "I never dreamed of having to deal with such an awful situation but I could not and never will walk away from my patients; it's where I belong". Fu...

While I was in the process of writing the Forward section for my upcoming book "Striving to Thrive", this dreaded detour called COVID-19 prompted me to start my first blog, with the able assistance of my technical guru son, Christopher (Thanks Chris!).  I felt compelled to comment as well as respond to the challenges facing those I encounter daily (now 'virtually') through my professional psychology practice, as well as my friends and family. Entitled "Viral Vicissitudes", the intention is to share my experiences, impressions, and hopefully thought provoking ideas (yes, I hope this will be a PROVOCATIVE experience!), that might in turn add value to the readers' lives during as well as 'Post-COVID'. I further intend on providing at least weekly posts and I look forward to your comments as well. So welcome and THANK YOU for coming!