Why self-care is important during COVID-19 – especially for health care workers

May 11, 2021

But the COVID-19 pandemic differs from other mass trauma events in ways that make it especially toxic: large geographic scope, unpredictable in nature, and the sudden wide-spread disruption to our economies and health systems.

What is particularly difficult about the pandemic is not knowing when or how it will end says Portia Jackson-Preston, a public health professor at California State University in Fullerton.

A recently published review summarized some of the adverse psychological effects of quarantine, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. Longer duration of quarantine, fear of infection, financial loss, inadequate supplies or information, frustration, and boredom were identified as specific triggers.