“The confinement lasted two months in Barcelona and the truth is that I lived it all at once. It was a very radical and sudden measure amidst the lack of control over infections and deaths. I am a social psychologist and I have lived here for three years for master’s degrees and now for a doctorate. I have always worked, and during confinement I had to keep doing it, because I am part of the team of professionals of a mental health residence. I remember going out on the streets of Barcelona – a city that doesn’t stop – and seeing them totally empty and silenced. It was a very strong feeling.
At the end of April, when the curve began to decrease, the government of Spain announced that the lack of confidence would gradually begin in five phases. LThe first was phase 0, where we could not yet see our relatives or meet friends, but we could go out for time slots to walk and move without meeting or standing still in one place. People from 13 to 70 years old could go out from 6 to 10 in the morning and from 8 to 11 at night. Those over 70 and the population at risk from 10 to 12 a day and from 7 to 10 at night.
In Barcelona we spent almost a month in phase 0 and Yesterday, Monday, we entered 1. We continue with the time bands and the mandatory use of a mask in places where you cannot keep the distance of two meters, but now we can meet in groups of no more than 10 people, businesses can operate at 50% of their capacity and cafes, terraces and bars at 30%. It was very nice to be able to meet up with friends that I hadn’t seen for months. It recharges my energy to see people face to face, decrease virtual relationships and be less in front of the screen. Although it is a freedom controlled by schedules and we still cannot go to the beach, feel the air, see the sky, watch people running, skateboarding and exercising on the waterfront has been a positive change.
In Spain, people are very obedient and question the government little, despite the fact that they had a rather irresponsible management at the beginning of the pandemic. That really catches my attention. The view on deconfusion is very linear and that generates the feeling that we are moving forward, but the truth is that at any moment we can go back.
Personally, I have observed a lot of mistrust on the street. Everyone looks at each other as if they were carriers, and unnecessary rejection is generated. A way of living has been installed that on the one hand has to do with health care, being healthy, and on the other excessive care, mentally unhealthy, bordering on paranoia. I have also seen many cases of people denouncing the police to those on the street outside of their time slot. A form of bonding has been generated from suspicion. As a social psychologist, I think this has to do with the authorities having tended to individualize responsibility for contagion and care. If confinement policies were proposed that would promote a good relationship with others, with expert panels where not only are there epidemiologists and politicians, but also social analysts who make diagnoses of the community, I think there would be less fear and fewer mental health problems. .
In Barcelona there are many migrants. Fortunately, I am in a privileged situation due to my doctoral studies, but the most affected are those who have not been able to regularize their situation and have not been able to benefit from salary policies that established the state for formal workers. Here the majority have an indefinite contract, not like in Chile.
Personally what has affected me the most is knowing that I will not be able to return to Chile in a long time. I miss my networks a lot. I was also planning to do my PhD research on migrant children there. The closing of borders is something very strong for those of us who made our transit process in a dynamic and globalized world and now we are installed in other countries. I can’t imagine what it must be like for those who have family members with health problems.
My message to Chile, from a future with fewer infections, is to be aware and make a critical reflection on this process. It is important to be attentive to the needs not only of those close to you, but of other communities, and to be alert to how government decisions affect our behaviors. I believe that you also have to give yourself the space to claim: We can’t take everything as a positive, go ahead and pretend like nothing. Positivist psychology, in these cases, is not very useful because it covers emotions that will continue to appear to us. It is important, to accept what we live, to give ourselves the space to feel and legitimize the allegation. There is no body that resists this in a normal way and it is necessary, beyond the multiple tips that haunt on social networks, to observe on a personal level what things serve us and what does not. ”
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