Dr. Solomon shares his insights about living with mental health disorders during the coronavirus pandemic, how to navigate social isolation, and what we can all do to emerge from this crisis healthy and whole. The following are some highlights from an edited transcript of the interview. RELATED: Tippi Coronavirus: Tips for Living With COVID-19 Andrew Solomon: The difficulty here is trying to figure out what the line is between an appropriate response to traumatic circumstances and a clinical condition. There are many people who are feeling worried and anxious; there are other people who have always had some vulnerability to anxiety and depression and are now being catapulted into clinical depression and anxiety; and there are people who already have clinical depression and anxiety who are escalating into very severe episodes in a phenomenon known as double depression. Feeling concerned and worried about what’s happening now makes sense. Feeling like what’s happening now is going to go on forever is a sign of some degree of clinical disruption. There is a very thin membrane between the two, and it takes a lot of work to detect where that membrane is. RELATED: 12 Questions Answered on How to Handle Anxiety in the Time of COVID-19 Connolly: If you’ve never encountered symptoms of depression or anxiety before, or you’ve never been clinically diagnosed, how can you tell when it’s time to seek out professional help? Solomon: One of the things that happens during severe depression is dysregulation. Dysregulation of your sleep, appetite, will to exercise, and so on — all those things get thrown when you’re depressed. If your sleep habits have radically changed, that may be a sign that you’re depressed. I always say the opposite of depression is vitality, and it’s vitality I think people should keep an eye on. Do I feel fully alive? Do I feel fully functional? If you feel paralyzed and are really struggling to get through each day, then you are experiencing some level of disability. Depression is a pretty well understood phenomenon, and the best thing you can do is avail yourself of the help that’s out there. Many people can do therapy on a telehealth basis and it can be enormously helpful. It’s a great thing to explore if you feel any possibility that things are really going awry for you. RELATED: Is COVID-19 Anxiety Messing With Your Sleep? 8 Tips for Getting It Back on Track Connolly: Are short-term antidepressants an option to help those really struggling to get through this? Solomon: Depression is paralyzing, and the question really is, how paralyzed are you? The first thing you can try and do is regulate all the things that have been dysregulated, like sleep, eating, and exercise. If you do all those things and are still feeling paralyzed and terrible, you could benefit from some extra help. A lot of people think that once you start taking antidepressants, you’re stuck for life. The reality is, you can take an antidepressant to get through this bizarre period we’re in and when we’re out on the other side and you feel ready to re-engage with the world, you can go off it. These are drugs you can go on and off relatively easily, so I think that people shouldn’t worry that they’ll get addicted or that the rest of their life will be spent in the offices of psychiatrists. Do what you need to do to get through a time that is traumatic for everyone, and when we’re through that trauma, you can go back to the life you had before — insofar as any of us can.
