Frozen by fear

ANNALISA ALCAZAR

IT HAS become apparent in my interactions within the community, and from reading social media comments, that a large majority of parents are shocked and angered about the reopening of schools. I read comments about how dare the Ministry of Education consider opening schools, including “…like they want my chile to dead!”

Some people are quite confused by these angered responses. However, at the root of anger is usually either hurt or fear. Many parents are petrified for schools to open. Many parents have become paralysed by fear.

I have been a mental health clinician for 18 years. Early in my career I specialised in treating trauma in childhood and more recently I have been specialising in treatment for anxiety disorders and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), using CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)/exposure therapy.

Fear is always a component within these disorders, as well as in our everyday lives. Once triggered, the brain experiences a heightened fear response, and this often leads to a pattern of avoidance. However, what most do not understand is that once you avoid something you are afraid of, the fear is maintained or amplified.

Worrying, many do not know, is also an active form of avoidance, which increases fear and anxiety. Unconsciously it is used to avoid problem-solving and decision-making. Instead, you ruminate over and over without solving anything and you remain stuck. Those of us who worry excessively feel like we cannot turn off our minds, and it can be debilitating.

Anxiety takes a piece of the truth and twists it, then catastrophises it and tells us the bad thing will most definitely happen. So, for something that is highly unlikely to happen, now our anxiety tells us it will definitely happen. And of course it will happen to us. Therefore we become highly afraid and avoid the circumstance.

Many parents have been able to avoid their biggest fear – their child getting covid19 – by hiding their children at home. Children, it seems, have been on permanent lockdown in Trinidad since March 2020. No school, no sport and no outdoor activities. The legislation made it convenient for parents to tuck children away, and unfortunately still does considering the newest “safe zone” regulations for sports are only for ages 12 and over.

What consideration has the legislation given to the mental and emotional health of our young children? Parents have created in their minds a false sense of safety about the children being safer at home, but that is also a neat thing about worries – they lie and play tricks on us. Are they really safer at home, considering the adult population is out and about?

Anxiety can become the driver of all things. We must ensure we do not let it steer the wheel. Often fear and anxiety are not logical. For example, evidence has shown it’s six times more likely for a child to die in a car accident than it is for a child to die of covid19. You don’t see people keeping their children out of vehicles, yet they are content to keep them out of school. We cannot as a nation decide that school should not open because parents or teachers are too afraid.

Thankfully, it seems that our leaders have begun to understand the national crisis we are yet to be faced with – the long-term effects of these closures on isolated children who are the future of our nation. No other country in the world has kept schools closed as long as Trinidad and Tobago.

Our lower primary and ECCE students' schools have been mandated to be closed since March 2020. When you look at international trends, schools were last to close and first to open. When you look at the trends within the school system, the younger classes were the last to close and first to open. But you know we Trinis like to do things backward. I am not sure what “science” was being followed here.

In the past few weeks we are now hearing talk about living with covid19. They can say “It’s time to live with the virus” repeatedly. However, many will not be able to as they are still frozen by fear. With children being out of school for two years, some parents are extremely fearful about their return.

Unfortunately, even if our powers that be try to re-educate our parents, the fear will remain, even if they show us all of the statistics and evidence that it is safe enough for our children to return to normalcy, that fear will remain. You cannot “undo” fear, the brain must relearn safety. It will be a long road ahead for families, both parents and children.

According to the ministry, lower primary schools are supposed to reopen in April for third term. Start your preparations now as a parent, as a teacher, as a school. As a parent do a drive-by or ask to do a walk-through of school. Take your child out and practise their mask-wearing. As a teacher, show your class a virtual tour of their actual classroom. As a principal, invite classes for an orientation day in March. We need to retrain the brain that there are ways to safely engage in learning, other than remotely.

Perhaps the ministry can be more forthcoming with the community in requesting assistance. Private co-operatives or NGOs may be interested in adopting a primary school to help them become building ready; donate fans, tents or materials.

There are many unfortunate reasons why many children will not return to school – dropouts, no money for travel, child labour, deplorable school conditions – but let us not have one of them be fear. The medical evidence has been overwhelmingly clear – the benefits of removing our children’s isolation far outweigh the risks.

It is time to start facing our fears. For the sake of the future of our nation. Children need to be in school.

Annalisa Alcazar is a mental health therapist