After having been on lockdown for several months, you might find it harder to go back to work or experience serious distress or anxiety about things as trivial as going to the supermarket. Do not panic! This is absolutely normal. Here is what Giuditta Petrella, psychologist and psychotherapist, has to say about what is called the Cabin syndrome.
Now that we're coming out of lockdown, we hear a lot about the Cabin syndrome and the fear of leaving the house. What exactly is it?
With the end of the lockdown, people began to think illusively that life could return to normal, before the explosion of Covid-19. This pandemic has led to a long period of isolation; for some people it was tiring not being able to leave the house and going about the daily routine while for others it was comforting to live within the home perceiving imprisonment as a sense of protection: a refuge in a place where you felt protected.
Our attention is directed to those having to face coming out of this warm and welcoming space. The emotions that one feels are anxiety, panic, frustration, sadness, confusion and if we had to give a name to this phenomenon we could call it: "Cabin or Prisoner syndrome".
An unknown term but which today begins to take on an important meaning, especially for clinical psychologists. According to estimates by the Italian Society of Psychiatry (SIP), over one million Italians suffer from it.
The Cabin syndrome is not classified as a mental disorder but a condition that if left untreated and sustained over time can lead to mental suffering such as depression or post traumatic stress disorder.
How to recognize this emotional state related to the fear of leaving the home?
The most common symptoms to consider as a wake-up call can be those related to emotions such as anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, sadness, anguish, a sense of emptiness; still others may have a feeling of persistent fatigue even if you sleep all the time, anhedonia and a sense of apathy. In this phase of recovery of "normal life", a sense of disorientation may emerge in the minds of many people when recovering contact with the outside world.
The fears are manifold: the phobia of contracting the virus, relating to the thought of death, the fear of infecting loved ones or having to resume the frenetic rhythms abandoned in this period of lockdown; some people have rediscovered the beauty of closeness and ties with loved ones and the time spent in their company.
Another important effect that could lead to the fear of leaving home is the thought of finding yourself in a changed world where there is an obligation to wear a mask, having to maintain a certain safety distance, finding yourself with a loved one and not being able to embrace or simply everyday life situations like going to the supermarket.
All these situations could create feelings of "estrangement" because of the loss of the sense of belonging that gave to one a feeling of security.
How does one manage this emotional storm?
The first step in managing this situation is to be able to recognize that you're feeling unwell. It is not always easy to know how to read the alarm bells that warn that something is not going well and that we are experiencing a moment of malaise and discomfort.
One thing is certain: you can't do it alone! In these moments, it is important not to feel alone and abandoned, this helps to restore the person's confidence in themselves and in the world; hope for the future and the possibility of being able to rethink the world and relationships as a familiar place.
In this process of acceptance of a new reality it would be important to appeal to the strength of resilience that we have within us. That is, the ability to repair oneself after damage, to cope, to resist, but also to build and manage to positively reorganize one's life despite difficult situations.
During the course of life, negative events occur that could make you suffer, destabilize and change. Psychological resilience could be perceived as the ability to find new resources within us and a new balance enriched by what we have experienced.
Not all people have the strength of resilience but potentially everyone can possess it: the help of a psychologist could support and accompany you in this process of rediscovering your strength without feeling alone.
Cabin syndrome also occurs in children and adolescents. How can we help them?
During the period of lockdown, children and adolescents were not really thought of by the authorities. Parents, with the tools at their disposal, had to roll up their sleeves to help them survive in this storm that came suddenly and that upset the daily routine with all the hardships that this entails. In fact, they found themselves locked in the house overnight, with the consequence of having to abruptly suspend ties with a part of life that is important to them: school, teachers, friends, extra-curricular activities and many other things that are significant to them .
In this lockdown, children and adolescents, sometimes thanks to the help of their parents, had to cope with their own means, rebuilding a daily routine made up of new rituals and patterns. Furthermore, teenagers, for whom the relationship with the peer group is important for the affirmation of one's self and identity, have resorted to the use of social media to keep this vital need alive.
Almost unconsciously they found themselves living a new reality so that at the end of the lockdown when they are able to go back out, many of them find themselves submerged with the feelings of fear.
How can a parent help their children overcome their fears and start living again?
Communication and reassurance are fundamental, we must not pretend that everything is okay because children understand everything. Always explain using a language they understand in order to convey a sense of serenity and security.
We should gently accompany them towards the new normal by initially making small trips in order to show them that with the right precautions nothing will happen and slowly help them regain the trust in their environment.
As far as teenagers are concerned, in this long period of confinement they have created their own digital world that has connected them to school, friends, relatives, games: all within their room. The risk incurred is that this isolation can become something pleasant and that it can turn into a pathological withdrawal. To prevent this from happening, the adult's task would be to encourage the teenager to leave the house and socialize.
It is important to listen to their fears, concerns, anxieties and help them support their internal resources and personal abilities.
