Lao Chan Fong, Director of Psychology at the Psychotherapy Center of the General Women’s Association of Macau, understands that the psychological burden on students who have returned to Macau is not limited to 14 days. At the beginning of the year, when the disease broke out, they were studying abroad and some were the target of unfriendly looks. Then, in addition to the difficulties in getting a ticket home, they were met with criticism on social media and “information about the control and prevention of the epidemic a little confused”. He recognizes that these problems all together can have some influence on the psychological state of the students.
Maintain a routine
During isolation, everyone is prohibited from leaving the confined spaces. Lao Chan Fong recalls that some of the hotels mobilized to ensure quarantine wrote messages of thanks to the isolates in the rooms, helping to create a healthier psychological state. These people cannot leave the room and interact with others or with nature, so it is sometimes impossible to relieve the stress they are subjected to. For Lao Chan Fong, those who are isolated should focus, for example, on watching sports series or videos online, it is essential to maintain a routine to preserve the concept of time and not let it affect you at a psychological level. And he leaves the advice: “You can try things you never had time to try before.”
Lao also warns of the difficulties that these students may face, arguing that they do not have to deal with this situation alone. “They don’t need to suffer alone, there is no need,” he says, recalling that sharing feelings with someone offers a sense of understanding and comfort. Students returning to Macau should also be aware of the importance of isolation: “Some think isolation is like a prison, but it is not true. It is necessary for the good of the entire city. Remember that you are doing this. for the sake of your family and the whole community “, he remembers.
Fears of worrying the family
PLATAFORMA also spoke with one of the students who completed the 14-day quarantine at a hotel after returning from Portugal. He traveled on March 17 on a flight from Lisbon to Hong Kong, arriving at the territory via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Only when he was making the connection trip by bus did he inform his parents that he was returning to the city. And he justified: “I wanted to avoid being worried”.
Lao Chan Fong understands the student’s concern about not wanting to alarm the family. “Parents are concerned to see their children go through an uncertain phase like this alone, but they have to understand that they are capable of a lot, they just haven’t had the opportunity to demonstrate it yet”, he says. And he argues: “They are young, but already adults and they have the hotel and other support during the isolation. If they were able to take care of them when they went abroad to study, surely they can do the same now”.
For this specialist, parents should treat their children in the same way as they treat other adults and control their emotions, keeping themselves properly informed about the pandemic.
The young man says that he “felt relieved” when he arrived in the city.
“Here in Macau, even if I am unlucky enough to be infected with the new coronavirus, I know that there is a medical team to treat me”, a certainty that says it made no sense when I was in Portugal. And he recalls that according to data from the first wave of the outbreak in Macau (between the last week of January and the first of February), all 10 patients were cured and were discharged from the hospital, which leaves him confident in the city’s health system.
“I prefer to spend 14 days in quarantine and then go out ‘clean’ and prove that I am not infected, reducing criticism from the rest of society”, he defends. For this young student, these 14 days went by quickly. And he explains: “I didn’t really think about how I was going to spend those 14 days. I spent time eating and sleeping. I barely woke up, ate. Half the days I spent them sleeping. The rest of the time was spent watching television. and surfing the Internet. So it went fast. ” The student also ruled out having felt any less positive feeling, based on the criticisms pointed out on social networks to students who returned to the territory. “I didn’t notice it and I don’t care about it”, he concludes.
