I was watching the local news.  In one segment, they reported that the number of cases was increasing.  State government officials were mandating stay-at-home orders and recommending to skip Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There was a doctor talking about how irresponsible people were at the airport last Friday, because the CDC recommended people not to go anywhere and there was a crowd of people at the airport going somewhere.

In another segment, the local news talked about the mental health crisis arising from COVID-19.  There were increased cases of depression, suicides, and anxiety. Restaurants closing, Jobs lost.  Food lines increasing.

I am not a fan of the news.  I think they are stoking the fears of COVID and shaming people to comply to government mandates.  At the same time, they are addressing the fallout from the fears that the they are stoking.  It is like figuratively putting people in a vice with fear of COVID on one side and the fallout on the other side, and slowly adding pressure from both sides.

Here is my take through the lens of a former OCD sufferer.

• The fear and the fallout are an example of extreme security. 
• Man was never meant to be alone.

I think people are going to extremes to rid of COVID while slowing destroying their own well-being and restricting their own freedoms.  Sounds self-isolating or even lonely.  Life is full of risks, but trying to completely eliminate them comes at a cost.

Being alone from others is not a good thing.  Being virtually in-touch with others is not the same as being physically in-touch with others.  This is quite apparent with young children when they are not able to see their friends at school or go outside to play.  College students may feel invulnerable to COVID but they like to party or meet people.  Being among people is a human need.  Man was not meant to be alone.  In Genesis 2:18, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

Extreme security is a problem with OCD sufferers particularly germaphobes.  They go though extremes washing their hands, excessively cleaning rooms and surfaces, and using hand sanitizers all the time.  They are obsessed with dirt and germs, and they go through compulsions and rituals to briefly assure themselves that things are clean.  They have no faith in their immune system.  They don’t tolerate dirt or germs very well.  Sometimes they don’t tolerate other people violating the sufferer’s rules. 

Notice the OCD-like symptoms that people are doing:

• Obsessiveness (cleaning, sanitizing, wearing face masks). 
• Assume things are already contaminated with COVID (wiping everything down, sterilizing the air).
• Fear of getting the disease (COVID). 
• Intolerance of others not following the rules.  Some OCD sufferers try to get normal people to go along with the sufferer’s rules.  And some normal people do comply to the sufferer’s wishes because they don’t want to see the OCD person to suffer.  This is called enabling.
• Avoiding other people (social distancing, agoraphobia).
• Little to no faith in their immune system.  Instead of preparing the immune system from an inevitable exposure to COVID, people avoid other people hoping to completely avoid COVID.

Does this mean the general population have OCD?  My answer: No.  However, I learned that OCD is an interesting mental illness.  It is more than just a chemical imbalance.  It is full of irrational thinking and it is driven by fear. 

Everyone has experienced fear and irrational thinking (believing in misconceptions) in their lives.  This is why I notice OCD-ish behavior in people.  Fear is a driving force that, if unmanaged, can compel us to harm ourselves and others.