Mental health in medical professionals and the power of sharing stories

"Frontline medical professionals must collectively share what they experienced as a whole. We must piece together these narratives and unearth commonalities to truly know what happened. Just as we must continue rigorous quantitative research on the virus itself, we must also conduct a qualitative examination. In the peri-COVID era, it will be critical to cultivate lasting empathy for the frontline and process the collective trauma that has likewise claimed lives as the virus itself. Only by establishing widespread, lasting awareness will empathy-driven solutions arise and will continued behavior change (e.g., social distancing, wearing face coverings) persist. The act of storytelling comes with the added bolstering of mental health; it is a means of coming to terms with a challenging and rapidly changing work environment being directly in harm’s way with inadequate protective — both physical and psychological — equipment."

Vibhu Krishna is a medical student.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The mental health benefits of sharing stories." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/the-mental-health-benefits-of-sharing-stories.html)

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