more than 90% of Americans are still
living under stay at home orders that
might change with the president's new
reopening but it's meant to spread the
halt and halt the spread of the virus
excuse me but the economic devastation
being caused by these lockdowns may be
creating a new pandemic one of mass
anxiety and helplessness I don't have
any income coming in I don't get any
food stamps and so it's just hard to get
you know any help right now I have a 12
year old son at home and stuff like I am
with the whole coronavirus going on it
makes me stressed more snow by night
stress more I smoke more because I'm
pregnant with twins if we were to get
evicted I don't know what we would do
this is heartbreaking and you hear these
stories all day long now we have 22
million people out of work and millions
of business owners are facing insolvency
so how many of our fellow Americans are
feeling stressed and panicked like the
women you just saw joining me now is dr.
Phil McGraw psychologist author and host
of dr. Phil dr. Phil thanks so much for
being on with us I think this this isn't
part of the calculation of you know the
bending the curve and all of those
graphs that we see and they're they're
very interesting I'm not saying they're
not important but those comments aren't
taken into consideration when we look at
those graphs well Laura they never are
and thank you for having me on and thank
you for giving a voice to this because
it's so very important this is invisible
I can't show you an x-ray of depression
I can't show you an x-ray of anxiety but
the fact of the matter is the longer
this lockdown goes on the more
vulnerable people but get and it's like
there's a tipping point there's a point
at which people start having enough
problems in lockdown that it will
actually create more destruction and
actually more death across time then the
actual virus will itself 250 people a
year die from poverty and the poverty
line is getting such that more and more
people are going to fall below that
because the economy is crashing around
us and they're doing that because people
are dying from
coronavirus I get that but look the fact
of the matter is we have people dying
we have 45,000 people a year die from
automobile accidents 480 thousand from
cigarettes 360,000 a year from swimming
pools but we don't shut the country down
for that but yet we're doing it for this
and the fallout is going to last for
years because people's lives are being
destroyed and dr. Phil just
conversations with with business owners
who I've gotten to know over the years
my come from a family that owned a small
business a car wash and so I'm always
I'm oh my heart is always with the
people who get you know frankly screwed
I hate that word screwed in situations
like this but the restaurant tors who
they're their employees are their
families that's their family and they've
had the same employees for 30 years and
they're these are grown men in tears and
and like III can't sleep I can't and
these are these are grown men who I and
I've never seen this I've never
witnessed this before ever I've talked
to them before and of course this
happened and when it happened
they got no warning some of them had
just received huge orders of perishable
foods they didn't even have time to give
it away and they have these these these
people that have worked for for 20 or 30
years and they can't afford to keep them
on and they can't do takeout at a lot of
these restaurants they're not geared for
that and so people are just at home and
of course it's a perfect storm lure
because here you've got people that are
in isolation that creates problems
loneliness actually creates problems
people that suffer from loneliness they
become 29% more likely to have coronary
artery disease 32 percent more likely to
have strokes or die 40 percent more
likely to have dementia if they're in
that age group so it's not just that
it's psychological their bodies actually
start breaking down so we think we're
protecting people's lives by keeping
them locked up you keep them locked up
long enough there's a paradoxical effect
you actually destroy more lives than you
do by letting them go out and protect
themselves and opt-in to their lives to
fight for what they
believe in ya and dr. Phil I couldn't I
could not agree more
I've been I mean III have not slept
during this just because I'm so worried
about our country I'm blessed because I
have a job and I'm very blessed but I'm
so worried about the working people in
our country and the impact of being out
of school for children and there hasn't
been that much of a focus on that Sweden
kept their primary school kids in they
thought that was the right thing to do
and you know we'll see how the numbers
all turn out there but the risk that
this poses to children watch they could
just be totally blowing off school not
talking to anyone and just you know
numbing out on YouTube videos all day
long because they're anxious and worried
and depressed and they're trying to
distract themselves and no one would
know because they're not going to reach
out for help dr. Phil how can parents
make sure this doesn't happen to their
kids where it's veg out that's that
that's a real problem Lauren I'm glad
you brought it up because attendance an
actual completion of work across the
country has dropped about 40 percent
parents are not trained as teachers I
mean we've got we've got so many parents
where they have three or four children
in three or four different grades and
they have one device one laptop or
computer at home if that and they're
trying to run three or four curricula
when they don't have the training to do
at once and so that's a real problem and
they're doing it while they've got this
hammer hanging over their head that the
economy's crashing around their ears
they don't know they're gonna be able to
pay their rent there were ten thousand
people that showed up in San Antonio
over the weekend for the Food Bank
people that used to be volunteering at
the food bank are now in line getting
food at the food bank ten thousand
people and we've these are people that
don't want to be there they don't have
to be there now we have so many
questions our viewers dr. Phil have been
sending in questions all day long right
dr. Phil we asked our viewers what they
really wanted to know
during the coronavirus lockdown a lot of
mental health issues a lot of concerns
our first question comes from Val and
she wrote
eighty nine-year-old mom is showing
sudden signs of delirium can you offer
some practical suggestions on how to
assist her with this quarantine she's
normally active socially shopping hair
salon dining out etc dr. Phil well I can
and I say this for four valves mother
and also for everybody in this
quarantine you need to maintain your
routine you don't want to become a couch
potato and a slug you want to get up
every morning take a shower fix your
hair put on your makeup get dressed
groom yourself just like you do whenever
the world is open because let me tell
you that door is going to open soon and
it's kind of like the pace car at a
NASCAR race when that pace car pulls off
the track you want to be at full speed
let everybody else be looking for their
keys and figuring out what they're gonna
do you want to be up to full speed you
need to you mean to have your mind busy
you need to be working and doing things
every day don't be sitting around
because particularly elderly people
their mind will begin to wonder and they
will not become cognitively active
you've got to be cognitively you've got
to be cognitively agile this really has
an effect on people neuropsychological
EIN talking with my colleague dr. Marty
Greenberg and we're very concerned even
about people in the 30s and 40s losing a
step cognitively by being in quarantine
yeah and kids go back you know the kids
have to be hearing from their teachers
at the same time every day as if they
would in school on video you got to do
something
all right question from Don what can
people do to avoid confrontation with
other members of the household since
everyone is forced to stay home together
dr. Phil might be last question you know
that's a tough thing you've really got
to give each other space and I mean
space mentally emotionally physically
and before you judge somebody you need
to realize you're probably a jerk too so
just back off and give everybody some
space this will in soon we probably
shouldn't have ever started this but
just realize there's a light at the end
of the tunnel we need to get out of this
and get back to work major depressive
disorder cost 210 billion dollars a year
in America
we're feeding it there when we don't
need to be now and of course domestic
abuse hot lines showing uptick concern
about the abuse of children opioids all
the rest dr. Phil we can do a whole hour
with you but you have your own show so
thank you so much for being on really
enjoyed it and really helped a lot of
people well Laura thank you for giving a
voice to this and keep doing what you're
doing because you're keeping people
active and you're keeping the pressure
on thank you for doing it I'll do it
thanks so much dr. Phil