“Corona became a marathon that has no finish,” says Bondt. According to him, healthcare staff are trained to work under high pressure and stress, but if that pressure continues, they too will fall over at some point. The staff has been through a lot in a short time. “People are not made to watch others die one after the other.”
War situation
During the first wave, the situation in the ICU was so stressful that it reminded him of his time as a military nurse in Afghanistan. “I had a flashback to Kandahar,” Bondt says. Where at Defense personnel and their families receive intensive psychological aftercare, nurses were on their own.
Some of them developed burnout-like complaints, slept poorly, had a short fuse, palpitations, but also fears and depression. “You reluctantly go to work, you don’t feel okay at home anymore either.” In the podcast series, he explains why he enlisted the help of the Ministry of Defense to guide his colleagues through this psychologically difficult time.
The Psychological Pandemic is a podcast by KRO-NCRV and NPO Radio 1 about how the corona crisis has exacerbated many psychological problems. With extra tips on what you can do yourself to stay mentally fit.
–
