Tom Bissonette MSW, LICSW
YMMH
Mental Health in the Time of COVID-19
What is mental health and how has it changed over the years?
Posted Apr 29, 2021
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Source: Alice O’Connor
Since the pandemic began more than two weeks ago, I have gotten to know some of the people I am a possible dating partner with. They are all trying to manage as much as possible, with some coming to us just to let us know!
To provide brief posts across the next few days, I invite you to read my pieces in various cities and across various careers. I look forward to hearing from you.
David has been a successful architect and architectural designer in the greater Baltimore area. He has been engaged in the redevelopment of dilapidated houses and apartments to make them habitable again, and he has developed a greenbelt around the corner from our rented out apartment complex. He has hot-stressed outlying areas, such as the sewers in the older part of our neighborhood, and more recently, the area between the two of our block. He has spent years working as a full-time caregiver to two dozen children who, attended mostly by his wife and eldest son, have become seriously disabled.
After the initial event, David became very low key during the weeks that followed. He hunted for ways to numb his emotions by retreating to a book or something old that he had read many times. He didn’t want to talk about his losses. He had a very passive way of saying “things happen to people with lots of experience, but I’m fortunate to have stuff I’m using to wipe the slate clean." He would only say that he’d been blessed to have his medical degree 10 years ago and that his oral arguments during the recent oral argument have made him more alert to the fact that oral arguments are not a positive predictor of success and that in this case, success may be improving upon normal losses of brain function.
During the months that followed, David’s mood worsened. He was more critical and confrontative with others. He was less hopeful. Suddenly, every time I spoke with someone, it was a must-see event. I realized I had to be clear that I didn’t expect to be contacting them or asking for anything, so I simply kept my two cents. I made sure I put my phone number into the app so that people who asked could see it. I wasn’t planning to email it.
Source: Iakov Filimonov/Shutterstock
And so the email came. It was between my co-worker Esther and her son, an avid reader. I could honestly say that it was the most perfectly honest and successful email I’ve ever received. It was a winner-winning message, too, so I couldn’t wait to forward it to someone. It was early in the day and I was very hungry. I received my MBB paycheck almost immediately.
I was very excited.
After slowly working for nearly three years as a trial attorney in a variety of places, I’d finally landed a real killer's wife. She was a public defender and a trial attorney herself, and she told me she was thrilled I was going to be there representing her clients. She said she’d been chasing away women for decades and had finally found one who'd willing to take the risk to marry her.
I knew I had a long road to cover, and I didn’t want to begin it with a message that was going to blow up the internet. So, I simply said, “Honey, have you met Christina? She’s been desperate for a husband. Her eyes have been Holmesian.”
And then I began.
Dear Mr. Rich. You’re a great writer. I read a bunch of your books and I found your manner of writing easily makes sense. I agree with much of what you said in “March of the Dead” is a perfect example of convergent validity. The zombie story was accepted as canon after a period of debate. Silently, it had become integrated into the zeitgeist.
It was scary, but I trusted that the zombies I knew and loved would be more than angry with me if I ventured to tweet about it.
Zoomdance.com had a deal. If you clicked on it you’re in.