The statistics for people reporting low states of mental health as a result of the COVID-19 changes are sobering. And although technology is helping, the ultimate remedies must be personal to be effective.

Dr Fiona Kerr speaks to Louise Pascale of The Adelaide Review. “No matter the level of tolerance for being on your own, if you haven’t got people that you’ve been able to include in your bubble it takes its toll,” she says. “Direct gaze, sharing space, voice resonance all bond us, and another aspect which we have had to restrict even if we are together, which is really powerful, is touch.

“If we can’t hug, we cut off an incredible vector of chemical connection. That powerful 20 second hug rush of oxytocin is amazing, but even just a warm pat on the arm starts C-fibre attenuation. We have receptors in our skin engaged by the C-fibres, which are slow-acting pathways that run through affective-emotional channels to your brain. They stimulate dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin uptake, opioids. They calm nervous system activity and raise empathy.”

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