By Sara Cole
Without touch, people feel depressed, unhealthy and deprived…
— from ‘Lost Connections’ by John Hari
With this year coming to an end, and many staying isolated and away from family and friends during the holidays, we as a society have come to a dilemma. With tensions rising for almost anything these days, it seems like compassion for one another has completely halted and been forgotten. Is it due to these draconian lock downs and being isolated from human contact? Which is now deemed deadly, as if we have now acquired the ability to give instant death by just a touch or sneeze. It seems like the more I go out among the people I don’t see people anymore. I see masked up individuals absolutely terrified to make contact with anybody, and berate those who have a differing opinion then them. I fear the longer we stay like this, completely and utterly afraid of human contact, we will end up like Aldous Huxley’s book “Brave New World.” A society devoid of love and compassion, with no understanding of what it is to be human anymore.
I remember working at a local coffee shop a few years ago. I was alone and it was slow. A woman walked in and ordered a coffee; she seemed distressed. I asked her how her day was, she broke down and told me her brother had passed away. I knew that feeling all too well; at that time, I was still mourning the passing of a family member as well. I understood her pain. I looked at her and asked if I could give her a hug. She replied with a teary, “Yes”. We embraced and her tears fell and I understood and held tighter. When we let go, she apologized and I told her there was no need to apologize.
It’s in these moments we remember we are human and compassion is a healing aspect of our society. It’s who we are. We have forgotten that a hug on a bad day makes that day seem a little better. We forget that little acts of kindness gives strangers a better outlook on life. We remember that life isn’t that bad.
Now individuals fear hugging family members or friends. How lonely must we feel? When was the last time you hugged someone? A real hug, no mask, no plastic guard, no plexi glass in the way, just a real hug?
Our first language is touch. Before we are even born, in our mothers womb we feel the vibrations of her heart beat. It’s scientifically proven that a mothers touch eases their child’s pain, but the most compelling evidence of how healing touch can be is from a study done by Tiffany Field. In 1986 Tiffany Field conducted an experiment using massage on Premature babies for 15 minutes a day for 10 days. The results were astounding! They gained 47% more weight, and went home a week earlier. That is incredible! How amazing that just a simple massage can change so much. How human touch can change someone so much. Tiffany Field did the same experiment on full term babies. They cried less, were more alert, gained weight faster, were more socially engaged, and had lower levels of stress hormones. I think we can all agree that after a good massage we feel just as good as these babies. We have to remember we are wired with a need for community. We have developed specific touch receptors, C fibers, that respond to a connecting touch. So what happens when we deprive ourselves from contact?
In the 1960s, thousands of Romanian children were put in Orphanages and completely starved of human contact. It wasn’t until after Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown in 1989 that neurobiologist Mary Carlson and psychiatrist Felton Earls saw the devastating effects. They found these orphans became mute, held blank facial expressions, withdrawn from any social interaction, and made bizarre movements. Carlson and Earls determined that these were consequences of isolation, abandonment, and severe social deprivation.
They found that:
- 94% of children had developmental language and speech disorders
- 40% were mentally retarded
- 26% had muscular atrophy
- 22% were completely immobile
- 14% suffered from delirium
- 12% had epilepsy
- 10% had autism
- 4% suffered from psychosis
This is a tragic reminder of how important social interaction is for us as humans. What concerns me the most is how will children, who are growing up in this environment, be able to handle social interaction after these draconian mandates? A child learns how to speak by reading lips, and watching facial expressions, most importantly they learn how to connect through loving contact from a parent. The question must be asked then, in the long run how will social distancing affect physical contact?
We have heard on multiple occasions that touch is forbidden, or taboo now, even platonic touch between friends and colleagues. The Texas Medical Center recently came out with an article about touch starvation and its consequences. They spoke with Asim Shah, M.D, professor and executive vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. Doctor Shah expressed concern regarding touch starvation and what it can lead to.
“When someone is [touch] starved, it’s like someone who is starved for food, they want to eat, but they can’t. Their psyche and their body want to touch someone, but they can’t do it because of the fear associated with, in this case, the pandemic.”
With this starvation of touch, it can lead to depression, anxiety, and triggering negative thoughts. Under stress the body releases cortisol, which our body responds by triggering our “fight-or-flight” response. Which can lead to, digestive issues, immune suppression, increased heart rate, respiration and muscle tension, which can increase our risk for infection. Doctor Shah even remarked that with a long extended period of touch deprivation it can lead to PTSD. When we touch oxytocin is released causing positive effects on our bodies:
- Helps prevent atherosclerosis
- Supports vasodilatation – a single hug has been shown to bring blood pressure down in 20 seconds
- Reduces inflammation caused by bacterial infections
- Promotes the growth of new blood vessels needed for wound repair and growth
- Plays a part in the production of heart and brain cells
- Increases the production of serotonin, our happy hormone, which also opens and closes the gateway to pain and is important for sleep
- Creates a sense of calmness, compassion, empathy and connection with others
- Is the molecule of ‘trust’ (‘The Moral Molecule’ by Paul Zak)
It seems like the more we converse and touch we increase our longevity, and immune systems. It helps us reconnect and feel like we belong in our community. Now it has become a tool to shame others into fearing touch and connection, making people feel even more isolated.
Since the lockdown in March suicide rates have gone up, substance abuse as well. Doctor Mike deBoisblanc (John Muir Medical Center, California) ) states that he has seen a year’s worth of suicides in one week. He also states that it is time to lift these restrictions now that they have the means to care for COVID patients. Arizona and a County in Tennessee saw suicides outweigh COVID deaths at the end of March, shortly after lock downs were implemented. Substance abuse and domestic violence have also been on the rise during this pandemic. Robert Redfield back in July even commented at the Buck Institute Webinar that “there has been another cost that we’ve seen, particularly in high schools. We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. We’re seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose that are above excess that we had as background than we are seeing the deaths from COVID.”
How much longer will we force ourselves to disconnect in the name of “safety?” Society has become a martyr in the name of science. People have become blind towards the real issues that are affecting us.
You can not hide from a virus. You can not hide from germs. These lock downs were never a cure, these masks never a solution, but a means to destroy a society.