Dr. Steven Siegel wakes every morning at 5, feeds his dogs, makes a fresh cup of coffee and begins exercising. By 7:30 a.m., he’s had breakfast and a shower, has dressed and is at work in his office.
Never mind that office is just a spare bedroom in his Glendale home. Routine, Siegel says, is the best way to combat the monotony and stress of the COVID-19 lockdown, now stretching into its sixth week.
“We do have more control over this than may otherwise be apparent,” argued Siegel, a psychiatrist with Keck Medicine of USC and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “Whatever your routine is, do it. Then go to work, even if that means that the kitchen counter becomes your desk between the hours of 8 and 5.
“You can’t control the rest of the world, but you can control what you do. I have no power over when COVID ends as an individual, but I have a lot of power about how I respond to this.”
Concerns about the coronavirus infecting us or our loved ones have fueled anxiety and fear, but the isolation and boredom of staying at home can be harmful in their own way. And the psychological harm of the lockdown is harder to measure and likely to last longer, driving up the rate of domestic violence, depression and other mental conditions.
“That is a reality,” said Ellen Bradley-Windell, a licensed clinical social worker and co-founder and director of the Valencia Relationship Institute. “We’re already seeing the fallout with families being home, kids being quarantined and home-schooling.
“So I’m concerned about suicide, people with social isolation, that people are living by themselves. I’m also concerned about the delayed response with family conflict, marital conflict and behavioral issues with kids.” – READ MORE
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