Panicking, we realized the misconception about the inverted value criteria, about the wrong priorities, about the meaning of some things that were not important until yesterday, about the meaning of living. About human fragility. We got to know it, but are we ready for change?!

Dr Vera Jovanovska Tipko

As if we are unlucky with the rhythmic years. 2020, similary to the one hundred years earlier, caused a serious arrhythmia of the established lifestyle. And the lifestyle, accustomed to daily tachycardia chases towards higher and further self-set goals, trapped in the power of various virtual “mega” trends (businesses, bytes, pixels…) and occasionally spiced with, often bizarre, micro hedonism, experienced a complete collapse. The form succumbed to the essence.

The established globalization has become a major, unstoppable carrier of the virus. Suddenly, the pandemic shifted the focus to the long-forgotten, masochistically marginalized health sector. Panicking, we realized the misconception about the inverted value criteria, about the wrong priorities, about the meaning of some things that were not important until yesterday, about the meaning of living. About human fragility. We got to know it, but are we ready for change?!

We experienced a civilizational shock with numerous “after shock” mental effects. Both on a collective and on an individual level. Particularly malleable for times with unlimited possibilities for transferring large (mis)information. Media has flooded us with opinions, analyzes, views, numbers, diagrams, predictions, expectations, accusations. Infodemia that caused a kind of psychodemia with a factor of reproduction that is constantly growing. Covid stress syndrome – collective Covidism. Mental software based on hypochondriac and obsessive cognition with compulsive behavior. Psychosomatic stress as a consequence and cause. Consequence of the viral pandemic. Cause of decreased immunity and increased risk. Stress that in some causes flooding with fear, and in others, its negation.

An emotional catharsis occurred. Increased fear of contamination, disease, economic crisis, the unknown, uncertainty, death. Obsessive compulsiveness, irritability, anxiety, dissatisfaction, fatigue, insomnia, distraction, abuse of psychotropic substances surfaced. The meaning of life is lost, chronic loneliness, social isolation, suicides increased. Anger and impatience flared up, and with them, family aggression. Suddenly, the learned automatic mechanisms narrowed, people grew into “silent” enemies, borders and restrictions emerged. Mass depression occurred. A destructive thought vortex that pulls you down. Collective psychosis with long-term consequences.

A year later. We understand, at least for now, that digitalization cannot replace the feeling of love and empathy, human warmth, altruism, pain, gaze, hug, kiss. That even the most sophisticated machines are inferior to the social inter-relation. That we need to focus much more on ourselves, to be creatively adaptable and innovative. By raising awareness of the importance of mental health, we should encourage and support the inner instinctive struggle for survival.

We also realized that we are inextricably intertwined, both individually and collectively. That infinite limits and limitations cannot exist. That, no matter how different we are, we are basically the same. With similar mental matrices, emotions, resistance and defense mechanisms. That personal happiness depends on the collective one. That we need to change our attitude towards ourselves, towards others and towards the nature.

We must learn the covid lesson of accepting the unknown, the unpredictable and the uncertain as soon as possible. And that everything takes time and patience.

Panta Rei.

And that is why: Lockdown – Shut down – Reprogram – Restart!

Dr Vera Jovanovska-Tipko, Psychiatrist, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, General Manager of Therapeutic Center Equilibrium – reason and vision, with years of practice and experience.