If before the presidential elections on July 28th, many Venezuelans had a high state of anxiety, after the electoral event, another set of emotions have manifested themselves. Fear is perhaps one of the most recurrent in people, who have reawakened images of the past and began to bring to the present, things that have already happened, without taking into account that this is another time, not that of the Venezuela of long queues for everything.
Jefferson Civira – Correspondent lapatilla.com
In an interview for lapatilla.com, clinical and social psychologist Yorelis Acosta, who is a researcher at the Center for Development Studies at the Central University of Venezuela (Cendes), outlines the mood of Venezuelans (not all of them), after the electoral process that continues to be highly questioned inside and outside the country.
Acosta, who specializes in topics such as protest, violence, emotions, mental health, among others, highlights that there were people who prepared themselves particularly for a post-electoral scenario, especially to manage anxiety.
– How do you perceive the mood of Venezuelans after July 28th?
There are people who were prepared, I particularly prepared myself for a very eventful July, where I was going to have a lot of work, where there was going to be a lot of anxiety, many requests for psychological care, and it was just like that. After the 28th, life goes on and people have to regroup, they have to adjust their plans for 2024 to a scenario that is always complex in the case of Venezuela.
A known scenario, because we already know that there will be more of this, although we have seen violence, arrests, protests, and that also made many people wake up images of the past, and thus began to add and bring to the present things that had already happened without making the distinction that this is another time, and it is another Venezuela. It is not the Venezuela of scarcity, of queues. But fear took hold of the people, so the emotional state of July 28th stands between very high levels of anxiety and fear.
– How can you manage emotions such as anxiety, frustration, stress, depression and uncertainty?
I must point out that uncertainty is not a state of mind from my point of view, because uncertainty marks the context. What context factors can you control? And control gives you certainty. We need certainty.
That is one of the things that has been hardest for people, they want the world to be perfect, they want to know everything and they want to know what will happen tomorrow, and that is not possible. It is never possible. It is not possible when you take your child to school to know how he or she will do, how the school year will end, when you are reading a book, when you go to see a movie.
We have control over what I let into my thoughts, what I read, what I talk about, whether I accept whatever gossip they tell me or not, or whether I read the amount of messages they are sending me or not. So, I have control over my thoughts, over what I let into my thoughts, and I am very selective. I have control over my routine, in the morning I get up and I am going to do this and this and this, about my work, and then you have to work in blocks and take breaks, because breaks are good for the mind, the body, stretching, informing ourselves of what is happening and we return to work concentrated.
I think people are doing it backwards and this generates high levels of unproductivity and anxiety. I check and check my phone, I ask, I go back and forth, and then when I sit down to work, I feel very confused and my mind is disturbed. Anxiety, frustration, depression, are mood disorders, and we should ask ourselves: have I always felt this way? Or do I feel this way because of these current events? Or because of these events have been the elections and its consequences and what these can have on the economy and on my mood?
If you are an anxious person or with a tendency to depression, you have to seek psychological help. Right now you cannot expect magical solutions.
– What is the emotion that is currently being perceived the most by Venezuelans?
For all these mood disorders such as anxiety, stress, frustration and depression, it is important to return to routines and healthy habits. So take a walk, include this in your daily agenda of what you are going to do today, something that gives you peace of mind, that is important, and self-care behaviors.
I also want to believe that there are optimistic people, who are trying to control themselves, read appropriate things, reflect, understand, that is, they are in an active waiting period, taking advantage of these spaces to recover emotionally, review their emotions, adjust their plans and rest. Others who come to see me, who ask me why they are so upset and why they are so aware of social networks. That is what predominates, a state of anxiety.
But there is also fear, fear of what is happening in the street, of what could happen, there are states that are militarized, there are arrests, and understanding what is happening in Venezuela is extremely complex. So I would say that people who are upset are because they have high levels of anxiety and fear.
– What do you recommend to people who are going through any of these situations?
The indications for these cases are to learn to manage negative emotions. Adults cannot usually deal with basic emotions and these basic emotions are fear, sadness, even joy, anger. We cannot deal with that.
Adults have to learn the higher complex emotions, which tell me about self-control, self-motivation, the effort to maintain the center, to not overflow, to model appropriate behaviors for those who are here. And it also means that adults identify when there are negative emotions, but we also have to prepare ourselves to face extreme negative situations, which we have done, we have all done. So, in moments like this, how do you recover emotionally?
You have to learn to drain frustration and anger appropriately. So, an incorrect way to do it, and it is very dangerous, is through explosions, violence, anger. That is not the correct way. An adult cannot function like this.
An adult must learn to drain (relax) properly, to stop, to withdraw, to take a walk, and I think, to include an outdoor activity in our daily tasks. And if you can’t contact nature, with your plants, with your little bushes, because hyperconnectivity also has a negative side.
I am on the computer, I am on the phone, then I move on to something else, and you have to look at the sky, sunbathe. These are important details for physical health and for mental health. One could take a 15-minute walk every day, 20 minutes, without taking one’s phone with them, looking at the sky, leaving problems aside.
And an important recommendation is to take breaks from worrying. Anyone who is worried 24-7 should also go to a specialist, because the ability to disconnect, to say I’m going to rest, I’m not going to think about this anymore, I’m going to take a break, I’m going to watch a movie, I’m going to listen to pleasant music for 10 minutes, I’m going to go to the theater or the cinema, is essential at a time like this. And whoever can’t do it and can’t enjoy it, their ability to disconnect is altered and that is a symptom of poorer mental health.