Tag: Tragedy

Categories
Politics

Biden Faces a Tragedy He Labored to Keep away from

Biden Faces a Tragedy He Worked to Avoid

WASHINGTON – That was exactly what President Biden feared most.

His decision to end America’s longest war was driven by his determination not to sacrifice a single military man in an effort that he had long believed was no longer in the interests of the United States.

But on Thursday morning, the withdrawal he initiated claimed the lives of 13 US soldiers and numerous Afghan civilians – the first American casualties in Afghanistan in 18 months and the deadliest day for the US military since 2011.

In burning remarks from the East Room of the White House Thursday evening, Mr Biden promised to “hunt down” the terrorists who blamed the Kabul airport bombings but said the hectic, dangerous evacuation of US citizens and allies from Afghanistan would continue for a few more days.

“Those who carried out this attack, as well as those who want to harm America, know we will not forgive,” Biden said in a language that echoed the warnings of President George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks on Nov. September 2001. “We will not forget. We’ll hunt you down and make you pay. “

America’s stormy exit from Afghanistan has dragged Mr Biden’s approval ratings down, and Thursday’s bombings are sure to open him up to political criticism. However, it was unclear what would hurt his presidency in the long term, as he is leaving a war that most Americans will get out of.

Prior to the attacks, the president’s advisors said privately that they did not believe in any long-term political harm to Mr Biden, especially since the military successfully evacuated more than 100,000 people in less than two weeks. But the deaths of American soldiers – and numerous Afghans – could upset these calculations.

The president’s Republican critics picked up the bombings and vowed to hold him accountable for the consequences of his troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It was the direct result of terribly misguided decisions by President Biden. It requires a painful accountability, “said New York MP John Katko, the Republican chief on the Homeland Security Committee. “Our Commander-in-Chief was missing and failed to get to this crucial moment in our history.”

In the hours following the attacks, few Democratic MPs jumped to defend Mr Biden. Instead, most expressed grief over the loss of life in Kabul.

“I’m upset about the despicable terrorist attacks at Hamid Karzai Airport,” said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island. “Today’s loss of life is tragic.”

Mr Biden held his comments on the bombings hours after the Pentagon confirmed that suicide bombers had carried out the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in a decade. Expressing “heartbreak” over a “tough day,” he said he had asked his commanders to target ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of Islamic State, which admitted responsibility for the attacks.

“We will respond with force and precision at the place of our choice and at the moment of our choice,” he said.

Mr Biden saluted the sacrifice of the soldiers, 12 of whom were Marines, who lost their lives and the 18 other American soldiers who were injured in the explosions while the military worked to implement its decision to withdraw completely from Afghanistan.

He promised that the United States would honor its “sacred obligation” to the families of the fallen in Afghanistan, calling those who died in the attacks “heroes engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to do this To save the lives of others ”.

Mr Biden said that as president he was responsible for “everything that happened” but he again denied that his decision to withdraw troops by the end of the summer inevitably led to the chaotic evacuation scenes at the airport or the deaths in the hands of the terrorists.

“I only had one alternative: send thousands more troops back to Afghanistan,” he said. “I never thought we should sacrifice American life to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan.”

But that is unlikely to please his critics, including some members of his own party who disapproved of the way Mr Biden ended the war.

Updated

Aug. 26, 2021, 9:44 a.m. ET

As news of the attacks spread on Thursday morning, Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called the situation in Kabul “a full blown humanitarian crisis”. He said the Biden government must complete the evacuation as planned.

Going against the advice of his generals and overriding some of his senior foreign policy advisers, Mr Biden announced in April his decision to withdraw the remaining 2,500 American troops from the country. The president said he did not want to call the parents of any other marine, soldier or airman who was killed in Afghanistan.

But the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban surprised the administration and set in motion a chaotic evacuation in which almost 6,000 American soldiers tried to secure the Kabul airport against the Taliban and terrorist groups. Earlier this week, Mr Biden declined calls by lawmakers, activists and other world leaders to extend the American presence at the airport beyond August 31, citing the potential for terrorist attacks.

Since August 14, shortly before the Taliban took control of Kabul, the government has reportedly evacuated more than 100,000 people and brought them to safety. But government officials admit that there are more Americans and Afghan allies who want to leave the country.

On Thursday, Mr Biden said he still intends to meet his August 31 deadline for a full withdrawal. But he also said he would not speed up the departure because of the bombings. He said his senior military officials told him they had the resources to continue evacuations despite ongoing threats while protecting the airport from the further attacks expected in the coming days.

And he said continuing the evacuation would prove to the rest of the world that “what America says matters”.

“They made it clear that we can and must complete this mission and we will, and I have commanded them to do so,” Mr Biden said of his military advisers. “We don’t let terrorists scare us off. We won’t let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation. “

Understanding the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan

Map 1 of 5

Who are the Taliban? The Taliban emerged in 1994 amid the unrest following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including flogging, amputation and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here is more about their genesis and track record as rulers.

Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the Taliban, men who for years have been on the run, in hiding, in prison and dodging American drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to govern, including whether they will be as tolerant as they say they are.

What is happening to the women of Afghanistan? When the Taliban was last in power, they banned women and girls from most jobs or from going to school. Afghan women have gained a lot since the Taliban was overthrown, but now they fear that they are losing ground. Taliban officials are trying to reassure women that things will be different, but there are indications that they have begun to reintroduce the old order in at least some areas.

Mr Biden said the United States would continue to try to help Americans and others flee Afghanistan after the military left, in part by trying to work with the Taliban to get them out. He said the Taliban are interested in working with the United States and other Western nations, at least for the time being.

The Taliban, Biden said, are eager for economic and other aid as they seek to rule the country again in the coming months. This gives the United States leverage over the Taliban that could help find and evacuate Americans and other personnel, he said.

“There are many reasons why they turned to not only us but others as well, why it would go on in their interest to get more staff that we want to get out,” he said.

In defending the way his government is handling the withdrawal of armed forces from Afghanistan last week, Mr Biden vowed that “any attack on our armed forces or any disruption to our airport operations will be met with a swift and forceful response . ”

On Thursday it was unclear whether a military response of any kind was already in the works. But military officials said US forces on the ground had the ability to strike back while also securing the airport.

General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., chief of US Central Command, said the military will pursue those responsible for the attack. And Mr Biden later suggested that he would not let the attack go unresponsive even though he did not give a schedule of action.

Mr Biden asked for a minute’s silence on Thursday to remember the deceased.

“Each of these women and men in our armed forces are the heirs of this tradition,” he said, “of sacrifice, of voluntary willingness to be in danger, to risk everything, not for fame, not for profit, but to defend what we love and the people we love. “

Pentagon officials described the airport bombing as a “complex attack” that involved at least two explosions and shots by ISIS-K fighters at Americans and civilians.

Mr Biden received news of the deteriorating situation on Thursday morning as he met with senior national security advisers to provide regular updates on the evacuation status, officials said.

The bad news – punctuated online by gruesome video of bodies outside the walls around the airport – continued all day amid unconfirmed reports of other explosions near the airport and a steadily increasing number of injuries and deaths, including many Afghan civilians who have favourited desperately for a chance to evacuate.

All morning, Mr. Biden huddled with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other top aides for news of the explosions and what happened they could mean the final days of the hectic evacuation efforts in Afghanistan.

After the attacks became known, the president’s schedule was quickly turned inside out.

Less than 15 minutes before Mr Biden was due to meet with Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new Prime Minister, the White House announced that the meeting had been postponed. It was later postponed to Friday. And a meeting between Mr Biden and some of the nation’s governors has been canceled. The daily briefing from White House press secretary Jen Psaki was postponed until Mr Biden made his remarks on Thursday evening.

Categories
Business

How Beijing Turned China’s Covid-19 Tragedy to Its Benefit

How Beijing Turned China’s Covid-19 Tragedy to Its Advantage

A year ago this week, the Chinese Communist Party was on the verge of its biggest crisis in decades. The corona virus brought the city of Wuhan to a standstill. In the days that followed, the government’s efforts to hide the pandemic would go public, sparking an online backlash unlike anything the Chinese internet had seen in years.

Then, when the blows landed faster than the Chinese propaganda machine apparently could handle, some liberal-minded Chinese began to think the unthinkable. Perhaps this tragedy would force the Chinese people to push back. After decades of mind control and the deterioration of censorship, perhaps this was the moment when the world’s largest and most powerful propaganda machine would crack.

It was not.

A year later, party’s control over the narrative has become absolute. In Beijing’s narrative, Wuhan does not stand as evidence of China’s weaknesses, but of its strengths. The memories of the horrors of last year seem to be fading, at least judging by the online content. Even moderate dissent is shouted down.

The people of China should bow their heads this week in memory of those who have suffered and died. Instead, the Chinese internet is on fire over the scandal of a Chinese actress and her surrogate babies, a tabloid controversy sparked by Chinese propaganda.

Anyone looking for lessons about China in the years to come must understand the consequences of what is happening in 2020. The tragedy has shown that Beijing is able to control what people in China see, hear and think to an extent that exceeds even what pessimists believed. During the next crisis – be it a disaster, a war or a financial crisis – the party has shown that it has the means to get people together, no matter how tenacious Beijing is about it.

This week I went through my Chinese social media schedules and screenshots from a year ago. I was shocked at how many posts, articles, photos, and videos were removed. I was also surprised to remember the sense of hope in that moment, despite intense anger and sadness.

The shift was particularly evident on the night that Dr. Li Wenliang, who was silenced after warning of the outbreak in late 2019, died of the virus.

That night, numerous Chinese people led an online riot. They posted videos of the song “Les Misérables” “Can you hear people singing?” They repeatedly shared one of Dr. Li’s quotes: “A healthy society shouldn’t have just one voice.”

Even one of China’s propaganda guidelines warned that Dr. Li’s death was an “unprecedented challenge”. Young people told me that the official news media had lost credibility.

One of my followers on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, apologized for attacking me earlier. I used to think people like you were bad, he wrote. Now, he added, I know we have been betrayed.

A middle-aged intellectual told me he expected the population of liberal-minded Chinese – those who want more freedom from Beijing’s controls – to grow from its estimate of 5 percent to 10 percent of the total population to 30 to 40 percent.

As those hopes rose, others tried to stifle the excitement. A political scientist suggested that the proportion of liberal-minded Chinese internet users would shrink, not grow. In three months, she predicted, the Chinese public, led by the great communist government, would celebrate the glorious victory over the outbreak.

Updated

Jan. 23, 2021, 9:48 p.m. ET

Unfortunately she was right.

In order to get the narrative back in the early days of the pandemic, as my colleagues have reported, the Chinese government began a tremendous effort behind the scenes to ensure that the censors took control at the local level as well. They listened and read almost everything people had written. Then the censors either addressed the problems or silenced those who thought differently. Chinese officials say police examined or otherwise treated more than 17,000 people who they said they had invented or distributed fake information about pandemics.

The lockdown in Wuhan ended after 11 weeks. By the summer, a photo of a crowded Wuhan swimming pool appeared on the home pages of many websites around the world. China became a success story as infection cases and the death toll skyrocketed in the US and many other Western countries. The contrast made the effectiveness of the party’s strong hand an easy sale.

The Chinese Communist Party has a long history in controlling history. In the United States, historical narratives shift and compete, causing argument and sometimes even violence, but constantly shedding light on new perspectives and providing a better understanding of what underlies national identity. In China, on the other hand, the government has successfully taught its citizens that the country is virtually ungovernable unless a strong hand controls the narrative.

The Communist Party reports severely on its most serious mistakes, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and crackdown on Tiananmen Square. Immediately after the Cultural Revolution, so-called scar literature – memoirs of those who suffered during this difficult time – became a popular genre. The party quickly recognized the danger of the public sharing their individual trauma and banned the books.

Under Xi Jinping, the party has become even less tolerant of unorthodox historical ideas. In 2016, Yanhuang Chunqiu, a monthly history magazine in which moderate retired officials published articles, was forced to cede its editorial powers to the authorities.

The narrative of the current pandemic is no exception. Journalists, writers and bloggers whose account of the outbreak differs from the official version have been arrested, disappeared or silenced.

Fang Fang, a Wuhan-based writer, became the most vilified figure on the Chinese internet in 2020. Your crime? Documentation of their lockdown experiences in an apolitical account in an online diary.

People on the internet call her a liar, a traitor, a villain and an imperialist dog. They accuse her of slandering the government and causing the Chinese people to lose face to the world by publishing an English translation of their diary in the United States. A man asked the government to investigate her for the crime of undermining state power. A high-ranking medical doctor punished her for lack of patriotic feelings.

No publisher is willing or able to publish their works in China. The social media posts and articles they endorse are often censored. Some people who spoke out in favor of them in public were punished, including a literary professor in Wuhan who lost their membership in the Communist Party and their right to teach.

“I think Fang Fang wrote about what happened,” said Amy Ye, the organizer of a volunteer group for disabled people in Wuhan. “In fact, I don’t think she included the most dire situations. Your diary is very moderate. I don’t understand why such a thing could not be tolerated. “

This requirement for a single narrative carries risks. It silences those who might warn the government before it does something stupid like stumbling into conflict or disrupting China’s economic growth machine.

It also hides the real feelings of the Chinese people. On the street, most Chinese people like to tell you what they think, perhaps in great detail. But China became more opaque in 2020. Online censorship got tougher. Few Chinese people are willing to take the risk of speaking to Western news media. Beijing has expelled many American journalists.

This single narrative also means that people who don’t fit in run the risk of being left behind.

Ms. Ye, the volunteer organizer of the Wuhan Group, doesn’t think Wuhan could win a victory over the pandemic. “My whole world has changed and it will probably never go back to what it used to be,” she said.

She is still struggling with depression and the fear of getting out of her apartment. As a pre-pandemic outgoing person, she has only attended one social gathering since lockdown ended in April.

“We were suddenly locked up at home for many days. So many people died. But nobody was held accountable, ”she said. “I would probably feel better if someone could apologize for not doing their job.”

“I can’t forget the pain,” she said. “It’s engraved on my bones and my heart.”

Categories
Entertainment

A Choreographer and Her Women Retell a Tragedy By means of Dance

A Choreographer and Her Girls Retell a Tragedy Through Dance

For the choreographer Tiffany Rae, dance is a language that is deeper and clearer than words. “I can show you better with dance what I have to say than actually talk,” she said in a recent interview. “You will understand how I feel.”

Part of what drives Ms. Rae – aside from her innate love of dance – is exploring issues rooted in social justice and black culture. Dance is a way to demonstrate both artistry and activism, and last summer she did both during a protest at Borough Hall in Brooklyn, where she preferred to dance than talk, and to her surprise, the crowd paid attention.

“Everyone sat down,” she said. “We didn’t even have to ask. It was just amazing – thousands of people sat down for everyone to see. “

At the protest, Ms. Rae, 24, presented a version of “Underground” that explores the trauma resulting from the struggle for racial equality and the continuing cycle of pain in black communities. She said, “The power that we had in our hands, in our faces – there was a kind of silence for everyone to say, OK, this is the time to focus, this is the time to listen.”

Gillian Walsh, a contemporary dance artist who interviewed Ms. Rae for Movement Research’s online publication Critical Correspondence, wrote, “Seeing this dance unexpectedly, so seamless between people making speeches and marching, really set me on fire.”

Ms. Rae, who grew up primarily in Brooklyn, has also created videos on Instagram and YouTube, some political and others for fun, such as The Parkers, her jubilant homage to the television series. Intended as a Thanksgiving gift for her followers, it went viral; Missy Elliott, whose music is featured, has republished it.

Her latest Rae Beast production, Unearth Birmingham, is more urgent: a response to the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1963. Four young girls were killed and many others injured. Ms. Rae’s film, shot in Gymnopedie, the basement of Bushwick United Methodist Church in Brooklyn, brings girls’ perspectives to life through an inventive, lively dance floor – full of hip-hop, modern, jazz and moments of improvisation – and music beginning with Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real” and ending with Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.

14-year-old Naomi Southwell, who portrays one of the late girls, Cynthia Wesley, knew nothing about the Birmingham bombings before the project began. Ms. Rae let the girls see Spike Lee’s documentary “4 Little Girls” (1997), but her own narrative is more impressionistic than linear.

“She wanted to show people history through our movement,” said Ms. Southwell, a freshman at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Arts, and the Performing Arts. “She wanted us to express how we might have felt if we were these four little girls, if we were in their shoes.”

Towards the end, the four girls find themselves in a place they have never been to: a gym. Startled and confused, they stand close together as more young dancers enter, some dressed as schoolgirls (from the Dancers Dreamzzz studio where Ms. Rae teaches) while others cheerleaders with the Brooklyn Diamonds (which Ms. Rae was once a part of). . “The other girls come around,” said Mrs. Southwell, “trying to comfort us and show us that we will be fine.”

And then they all dance, superimposing shapes that reflect Ms. Rae’s eclectic background. She has trained in many genres including ballet, jazz, modern, West Africa, Horton, and hip hop. Thanks to cheerleading, she can move large groups.

And there is something else: she was the only player on the soccer team in middle school. (She was a cheerleader and soccer player at the same time for a while.) “I feel like soccer helped me be a strength dancer,” she said. “To dance softly and subtly, but still have that power behind it. ”

Her first time in a music video was Beyoncé’s “Let’s Move Your Body”. She was in elementary school. “Instead of paying attention to the dancing mostly, I was paying attention to what they were doing,” she said. “I would watch the choreographer.”

Now young girls are watching them. In a recent interview, Ms. Rae spoke about the Birmingham bombing, why it was important to show the innocence of her cast and how joy wins in the end.

What follows are edited excerpts from this conversation.

When did you first find out about the bombings and how did it affect you?

When I was little, I actually played one of the girls in one piece. It always resonated in my heart and I wanted to do something on my own.

That moment triggered so much. After this bombing, there was unrest – just like today. Even then, people who were racist, they realized: Oh my god, these are four innocent children. I have the feeling that this triggered the turning point a little.

I like the way your video jumps between grief and boisterous dancing.

I want you to know these girls are alive. Not to make it so sad, but to show the brightness at the end of this tunnel. I wanted to show that these are young girls; You have fun. Like they could have, but it was taken away. I always wanted to grab feelings.

I thought of studies that talked about how black girls are perceived as less innocent and more adult than other girls their age. Was that part of it too?

Yes / Yes! It’s so important. That’s why I made her so funny. And of course they did that themselves – these kids are really fun and full of energy and they are really girly girls. And innocent.

How did you develop the choreography?

I had to make sure I knew every single girl – her character. I don’t like to force choreography. I don’t have to take a thousand steps, but I want to do choreography, not just for the dancer’s eye, but for normal, everyday people so that they can feel what they are feeling.

Sometimes you don’t have to do everything so technically because the message doesn’t appear. So I knew I just had to be any girl. I’m fine – it has to be our turn here or she has to jump here. Or that has to be a kick. OK: what am I feeling?

You ask yourself

Sometimes I just have to sit back and not be a dancer for a while and just be a normal person. So sometimes it’s good for me to be on the train and just listen to music and just say, OK, if I wasn’t a dancer and I saw a show, what do I want to see? What do i want to feel And how can this movement relate to what I could convey? I think that’s how I was able to create this choreography.

How did you come up with group dance in the gym?

I knew I wanted something simple but loving. Something that would be simple but subtle. We don’t have to be sad forever. We have to grow and move forward. They look down on us and they shine. And it’s like we’re dancing That’s the point I’m trying to make. Dance is everything.

Categories
Health

Tragedy, Covid isolation, and psychological well being

Tragedy, Covid isolation, and mental health

Tony Hsieh, CEO von Zappos.com

Getty Images

Tony Hsieh schien alles zu haben.

Hsieh startete die in Las Vegas ansässige Schuh-E-Commerce-Plattform Zappos und verkaufte sie 2009 für 1,2 Milliarden US-Dollar an Amazon – die größte Akquisition in der Geschichte von Amazon zu dieser Zeit. Er war ein Unternehmer, der sich durch seinen unkonventionellen Führungsstil auszeichnete, der die Kultur über alles stellte und sich über die Unternehmenshierarchie lustig machte. Im Jahr 2010 veröffentlichte er ein Buch, das seinen eigenen Führungsstil in einem Buch kodifizierte: “Glück bringen: Ein Weg zu Gewinn, Leidenschaft und Zweck”. Er war auch dafür bekannt geworden, 350 Millionen Dollar für die Wiederbelebung der Innenstadt von Las Vegas zu spenden.

In einem First-Person-Tell-All-Artikel, den Hsieh 2010 im Wirtschaftsmagazin Inc schrieb und veröffentlichte, beschreibt Hsieh den Flug nach Seattle, um sich mit Bezos zu treffen, bevor der Deal formalisiert wurde.

“Ich gab ihm meine Standardpräsentation über Zappos, in der es hauptsächlich um unsere Kultur geht. Gegen Ende der Präsentation begann ich über die Wissenschaft des Glücks zu sprechen – und wie wir versuchen, sie zu nutzen, um unseren Kunden und Mitarbeitern besser zu dienen”, so Hsieh schrieb.

Er fuhr fort: “Aus dem Nichts sagte Jeff: ‘Wussten Sie, dass die Leute sehr schlecht vorhersagen können, was sie glücklich machen wird?’ Das waren die genauen Worte auf meiner nächsten Folie. Ich stellte sie auf und sagte: “Ja, aber anscheinend können Sie PowerPoint-Folien sehr gut vorhersagen.”

Der Moment liest sich jetzt wie ein Vorbote der kommenden schweren Zeiten.

Am 18. November starb Hsieh im Alter von 46 Jahren an den Folgen einer Rauchinhalation, nachdem er in einem kleinen Lagerraum hinter einem Strandhaus in New London, Connecticut, aus einem Brand gerettet worden war. Offiziell wurde der Tod von Connecticut als Unfall gewertet Büro des Chefarztes. Berichten zufolge wurde mindestens ein Notarbeiter belauscht, der sagte, er habe sich im Inneren verbarrikadiert.

Die Jahre vor Hsiehs frühem Tod umfassten unersättlichen Alkohol- und Drogenkonsum, extremes “Biohacking”, einschließlich der Frage, wie lange er ohne Essen und Urinieren auskommen konnte, eine Besessenheit mit Feuer und Kerzen und den Kauf von Häusern in Park City, Utah, und das Bezahlen Laut Berichten in Forbes und im Wall Street Journal verdoppeln die Menschen ihr höchstes Traumgehalt, um auf den von Hsieh gekauften Grundstücken zu leben, wenn sie mit ihm zufrieden wären.

Auch ohne genau zu wissen, was in diesem Schuppen in Connecticut passiert war, hatte Hsieh eindeutig Angst. Experten für psychische Gesundheit warnen davor, dass die anhaltende Covid-Pandemie das Gefühl der Isolation und Einsamkeit verstärken kann, und bieten Tipps und Ressourcen, um Hilfe für sich selbst oder Ihre Angehörigen zu suchen.

Bei Einsamkeit geht es nicht nur um Nähe

Die Abwesenheit von Menschen in der Nähe definiert keine Einsamkeit, sagt C. Vaile Wright, Senior Director für Innovation im Gesundheitswesen in der Praxisdirektion der American Psychological Association.

“Einsamkeit ist wirklich das Gefühl, niemanden zu haben, der sich um dich kümmert. Das ist etwas anderes als nur allein zu sein. Menschen können allein sein und sich nicht einsam fühlen”, sagt Wright gegenüber CNBC.

“Viele von uns sind aufgrund von Covid physisch isoliert, aber es ist immer noch von entscheidender Bedeutung, soziale Verbindungen aufrechtzuerhalten, die sinnvoll sind und diesem Gefühl der Einsamkeit entgegenwirken.” Das kann Telefonanrufe, Videoanrufe und Spaziergänge mit Freunden im Freien bedeuten, aber es kann auch bedeuten, Pflegepakete zu senden oder Briefe zu schreiben, sagt Wright.

Wenn ein Freund oder eine geliebte Person isoliert, ist das eine “wirklich kritische rote Fahne”, sagt Wright.

“Das Markenzeichen wäre, wenn jemandes Symptome seine Fähigkeit beeinträchtigen, auf signifikante Weise zu funktionieren”, sagt Wright gegenüber CNBC. “Sie sind nicht in der Lage zu arbeiten, nicht einmal von zu Hause aus zu arbeiten oder zur Schule zu gehen. Sie haben aufgehört, auf sich selbst aufzupassen, was so aussehen kann, als würden sie nicht duschen, nicht essen, nicht schlafen oder sie können sich nicht um ihre Lieben kümmern.”

Inmitten der Coronavirus-Pandemie, in der es zur Norm geworden ist, sich von anderen Menschen fernzuhalten, um sich körperlich gesund zu halten, kann sich die Isolation als eine Person manifestieren, die nicht zu regelmäßig geplanten virtuellen Terminen erscheint und keine Texte gemäß ihrer üblichen Trittfrequenz zurückgibt oder Substanzen missbraucht .

Es ist schwieriger, gefährliche Einsamkeit zu erkennen, wenn alle aufgefordert werden, getrennt zu bleiben, sagt Wright.

“Es wird für uns noch wichtiger, alles zu tun, um Menschen zu erreichen, in der Regel diejenigen, von denen wir wissen, dass sie anfälliger und hartnäckiger sind”, sagt sie gegenüber CNBC. Manchmal erreichen besorgte Freunde und Angehörige nicht, weil sie nicht wissen, wie sie die Situation beheben können, sagt Wright, aber selbst wenn sie nur Bedenken äußern, kann dies eine große Hilfe sein.

“Normalerweise suchen die Leute nur jemanden, der sich um sie kümmert, der hören will, was sie durchmachen, ihre Erfahrungen validiert und dann vielleicht bei der Problemlösung hilft”, sagt Wright. “Aber ich denke wirklich, wir müssen uns nur darum bemühen, offene, nicht wertende Fragen zu stellen, wie es den Menschen geht.”

Laut Wright gibt es folgende gute und einfache Möglichkeiten, um zu sagen, was zu sagen ist, wenn Sie besorgt sind, dass ein Freund oder ein geliebter Mensch in Gefahr ist: “Ich mache mir Sorgen um Sie. Können Sie mir sagen, wie es Ihnen geht?” Oder: “Ich habe bemerkt, dass Sie nicht wissen, wann Sie Texte zurückgeben, und ich frage mich, ob es Ihnen gut geht.” Jemanden, der sich einsam fühlt, für ihn da zu lassen, ist der Schlüssel, sagt sie.

Warum Einsamkeit schlecht für unsere Gesundheit ist

“Wissenschaftler aus verschiedenen Disziplinen argumentieren, dass Menschen unsere soziale Spezies sind, und deshalb mussten wir uns im Laufe der Menschheitsgeschichte auf andere verlassen”, so Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Professorin für Psychologie und Neurowissenschaften an Brigham Young University erzählt CNBC. “Ein Teil einer Gruppe zu sein war mit Sicherheit und Effizienz verbunden. Es ist also sehr bedrohlich, außerhalb einer Gruppe oder allein zu sein.”

Soziale Isolation bedeutet, “alles ganz alleine bewältigen und bewältigen zu müssen”, sagte Hold-Lunstad. “Es wurde argumentiert, dass sich unser Gehirn im Wesentlichen so entwickelt hat, dass es die Nähe zu anderen erwartet. Wenn wir dies nicht tun, wenn uns diese Nähe zu anderen fehlt – und wir anderen besonders vertrauen -, entsteht ein Zustand der Wachsamkeit und Bedrohung Unser Gehirn.”

Wenn sich das Gehirn in einem “erhöhten Alarmzustand” befindet, sendet es auch Signale an den menschlichen Körper, und das “kann Dinge wie erhöhten Blutdruck und Herzfrequenz, zirkulierende Stresshormone und Entzündungen umfassen”, sagt sie. “Diese Informationen wurden wiederum mit einer Reihe chronischer Krankheiten in Verbindung gebracht – sie wurden mit Depressionen in Verbindung gebracht und interessanterweise sogar mit einer höheren Anfälligkeit für Viren.”

Die Forschung von Hold-Lunstad hat gezeigt, dass die Wahrnehmung der Unterstützung ausreicht, um “diese physiologischen Reaktionen zu dämpfen”, die mit dem Gefühl der Isolation verbunden sind. Ihre Laboruntersuchungen zeigen geminderte Reaktionen auf Stress, selbst wenn die Personen, die den Studienteilnehmern ein Gefühl der Unterstützung geben, nicht im Raum sind.

“Die Wahrnehmung der Verfügbarkeit von Support ist also enorm”, sagt Hold-Lunstad. “In einer meiner Studien, in denen wir Daten von über 300.000 Teilnehmern weltweit hatten, stellten wir fest, dass die Wahrnehmung von Unterstützung mit einer um 35% erhöhten Überlebenschance verbunden war.”

Es hilft auch, freundliche Dinge für andere zu tun. Hold-Lunstad hat gerade eine Studie zwischen Juli und September mit etwas mehr als 4.200 Studienteilnehmern zwischen den USA, Großbritannien und Australien abgeschlossen. Es zeigte sich, dass diejenigen, die zufällige freundliche Handlungen für Nachbarn vollzogen, ob sie einen Rasen mähten oder Informationen darüber austauschten, wo sie Backhefe fanden, “in den vier Wochen eine signifikante Verringerung der Einsamkeit zeigten”.

Auch Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene haben Probleme

Laut der Umfrage der American Psychological Associations Stress in America aus dem Jahr 2020 geben 67% der Erwachsenen der Generation Z (im Alter von 18 bis 23 Jahren) an, dass das Coronavirus “eine Planung für ihre Zukunft unmöglich macht”, eine Statistik, die die Psychologin Dr. Mary Alvord für CNBC hervorhob. Und die Hälfte der Teenager der Generation Z (13-17 Jahre) gibt an, dass die Pandemie laut dem Bericht “ihre Pläne für die Zukunft ernsthaft gestört hat”.

Und während das Coronavirus und die daraus resultierenden Veränderungen im Leben eine massive Hürde darstellen, gibt es laut Alvord auch andere Stressfaktoren, darunter “Rassenunruhen, Fehlinformationen, Spaltung der Bevölkerung und der Familien, finanzieller Stress der Familien, Trauer und Verlust nicht nur durch COVID-Todesfälle und Krankheiten, aber auch von Arbeitsplätzen und Unternehmen verloren. ” Es gibt auch die ständige Unsicherheit in Bezug auf die Schule und ob sie persönlich, online oder in einer Kombination aus beiden stattfinden wird, sagt Alvord.

“Übergangsriten werden verpasst”, sagte Alvord. “Sport-, Theater- und Clubaktivitäten werden verpasst oder virtuell abgehalten, aber nicht gleichbedeutend mit persönlichen Aktivitäten.”

“Obwohl sie alt genug sind, um die Nachrichten zu lesen und zu hören, sind sie nicht immer in der Lage, alle Ereignisse und Probleme im Blick zu behalten”, sagte Alvord, der auch Mitautor von “Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens: A Workbook to” ist Brechen Sie die neun Gedankengewohnheiten, die Sie zurückhalten. ” “Wenn Sie” katastrophal “wie” Was ist, wenn dies passiert “und” Was ist, wenn ich nicht x “hören, kann dies bedeuten, dass die Angst überhand nimmt und die Perspektive verringert wird. Fragen Sie den Teenager oder jungen Erwachsenen:” Was sind? ” die realistischen Chancen, dass etwas wirklich Schlimmes passiert: “Können sie damit umgehen?” und “Was würden sie einem Freund sagen, der sich über dieselben Gedanken Sorgen macht?”

Ähnlich wie bei den oben genannten Warnzeichen für Erwachsene sind “plötzliche Änderungen des Verhaltens, des Schlafes, des Essverhaltens oder der Verschiebung oder Abschaltung von Freunden und Familie sowie negative Selbstaussagen” wichtige Warnzeichen, die junge Erwachsene nicht bewältigen, sagt Alvord.

Eltern “können Bewältigung modellieren”, sagt Alvord gegenüber CNBC und gibt Teenagern und jungen Erwachsenen eine Vorlage für den Umgang mit Stress. Sie können dies tun, indem sie angesichts von Stress und ungeplanten Straßensperren ruhig bleiben. Oder: “Wenn sie nicht ruhig sind, können sie etwas sagen wie: ‘Ich bin so frustriert, weil x gerade passiert ist. Aber ich werde ein paar tiefe Atemzüge machen, mich beruhigen und die nächsten Schritte herausfinden. Ich werde darüber nachdenken 3 Dinge, die ich gegen diese Situation tun kann ‘”, sagt Alvord. “‘Ich kann nicht alles kontrollieren, was vor sich geht, aber ich kann diesen Teil davon kontrollieren und ich denke über einen Plan nach, um damit umzugehen.'”

Professionelle Ressourcen

Wenn jemand, den Sie kennen, in verzweifelter Gefahr ist, rufen Sie 911 an und schicken Sie einen Arzt zu sich nach Hause, sagt Wright.

Eine weitere wichtige Ressource ist die National Suicide Prevention Lifeline unter 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Wenn ein Freund oder eine geliebte Person in Gefahr ist, sich selbst zu verletzen, ist es in Ordnung, direkt zu sein, sagt Elinore F. McCance-Katz, stellvertretende Sekretärin für Gesundheit und menschliche Dienste für psychische Gesundheit und Substanzgebrauch, die Agentur in der Abteilung der Bundesregierung Health and Human Services arbeiten an der Verbesserung der Verhaltensgesundheit, wodurch die Hotline finanziert wird. Sagen Sie ihnen, dass sie die Hotline 24 Stunden am Tag anrufen können, sagt sie.

“Teilen Sie auf unkomplizierte und unterstützende Weise mit, was Sie bemerken, und bieten Sie an, darüber zu sprechen (z. B.” Sie waren in den letzten Wochen sehr traurig “)”, sagt McCance-Katz gegenüber CNBC über einen Abteilungssprecher. “Seien Sie bereit, die direkte Frage sanft zu stellen: ‘Haben Sie darüber nachgedacht, sich selbst zu verletzen?’ Sie werden die Idee nicht in den Kopf Ihres geliebten Menschen stecken, sondern viele sehen dies als einen Weg, die Tür für das Gespräch zu öffnen. Es beseitigt das Stigma, das mit Selbstmordgedanken verbunden ist, und die Schande, die man empfinden kann, wenn sie sie haben . “

Wenn Sie sich Sorgen um einen Freund oder einen geliebten Menschen machen und dringend Hilfe oder Anleitung benötigen, können Sie auch die National Suicide Prevention Lifeline anrufen, sagt McCance-Katz.

Wenn ein geliebter Mensch oder Freund Anzeichen einer Verschlechterung der psychischen Gesundheit zeigt, kann eine professionelle Therapie erforderlich sein. “Die meisten Therapeuten haben sich der Telegesundheit zugewandt, dh Videokonferenzen oder nur dem Telefonieren, und wir wissen, dass beide Methoden genauso effektiv sind wie von Angesicht zu Angesicht [therapy]”, Sagt Wright gegenüber CNBC. Die Suche nach einem Therapeuten kann bei Ihrem Hausarzt oder Ihrer Versicherungsgesellschaft beginnen. Wenn Sie keinen Hausarzt oder keine Versicherung haben, können Sie zunächst Freunde und Familie nach ihren Empfehlungen fragen oder weiter suchen ein Therapeuten-Locator im Internet, wie der von Psychology Today.

Grundsätzlich ist es schwierig, jemandem zu helfen, der mit psychischen Problemen zu kämpfen hat. “Es kann eine Herausforderung sein, wenn Sie der geliebte Mensch oder der Freund sind, weil Sie oft nicht viel unter Ihrer Kontrolle haben, außer zu erreichen, Ressourcen anzubieten, sich selbst als Ressource auszuschalten”, sagt Wright gegenüber CNBC. “Bis zu einem gewissen Grad muss es die Person selbst sein, die sich bemüht. Und das ist wirklich herausfordernd.”