NASA against the depression

As they found out that all of them are alive after the collapse of the mine, it passed the 17 days of anxious uncertainty about the condition of 33 miners buried approximately 700 meters in the earth's crust. These days they are reached by a special probe, and to the outside world they are connected by 15 cm wide channel created by a drill that is a bit reinforced with metal gel, which is weak protection from further cave-ins.

There is ongoing hasty working on a very complex rescue operations, but the most powerful machine that should save 33 lives can only reach them just before the next Christmas. I wonder what force of modern technology would rush to rescue the buried company of Oprah Winfrey, Roman Abramovich, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie and the Sultan of Brunei. However, now it is not a topic. Do not rub salt into the wound, but let's salt life.

Chilean government immediately turned to experts from NASA for advice on how to keep these people healthy, as they are in a state similar to cramped living conditions in a space modules. NASA responded a few days ago, though the earth's crust conditions are quite different from those in a space module and the company of the human survivors down there is not the same as the hand-picked team of astronauts psychologically prepared for such a thing. Before the response Chileans are already landed antidepressants there thinking that it will maintain order and mental health through the months of struggle for life.

However, NASA is sending a different message.

The most important lessons that astronauts can teach anyone in such a situation are valid for our depression, anxiety and those of our friends' as well. NASA says (and I am adding a bit :)):

1) "Be honest with the people trapped, tell them how long your efforts will last for the entire rescue operation" – name the problem with its real name and cultivate honesty. Only when we become aware of the situation, even understanding that we are at the bottom, we can start with the resolution. This I can confirm from my own recent anxious situation. Only when I said to myself that a help from the outside is probably not coming I have come to at least one solution, admittedly radical, but that's life. Either way, the honesty is very effective.

2) "allow them a private communication with loved ones" - during anxiety it is dangerous to be alone. During my recent crisis some of my close friends went silent and they avoided me too, so I was calming myself using pills while those same friends have publicly posted about how their lives are blooming. And then there suddenly appeared some other friends into my life through a bunch of messages and phone calls, a people of whom I did not expect something like that. I was left stunned, feeling refreshed and without having no need to artificially sooth myself. Do not avoid people who are suffering. Even if you do not have a solution, just be near, very close, even you both together sit silent.

3) "keep them busy by means of various activities, tell them to start monitoring their vital functions, send them down the pressure gauge, thermometer and a small scale" – let yourself be busy with something. If you do not have the will to do something, let your friend occupy you with the conversation, take you out somewhere, employ you at something. Also, you do the same thing to others who have a problem.

4) "treat them as engineers and potential problem solvers" - do not treat them as victims. Tell to an anxious person about his/her values and tell him/her that everybody expects something good from them. It's not a lie, it is confirmed by the basic psychology - everyone in themselves has something worthwhile that needs to be reach for in order to release the potential and miracles are starting to happen.

5) "teach them to create an artificial day/night cycle, introduce rhythmic meals and periods of sleep" - discipline, self-discipline, whatever you name it. One of our basic needs as a species is to attach meaning to everything and introduce order to feel safe. Depressed people often behave disorderly – they are either not eating or eat excessively, they are either not sleeping at all or sleep too much, etc. The introduction of rhythm and order, bit by bit, is a preventative to many problems in the life of any active person in the world.

Anyway, the miners in the darkness of the earth's crust now have antidepressants, good advices and a faith, and the world has yet another experiment about human nature. What we would learn from all of this will show up when we get ourselves involved into our next personal crisis.