Despite what the title may imply, I’m not saying that mental health professionals can be “replaced by data”. Nor can they be replaced by many modern vices we may have. However, what I can tell you is that data can give you a sense of control and awareness that can help promote a sense of well being. I’ll tell you some of my experiences with Data Therapy and where you may be able to take advantage of this therapy.
My story starts in the first quarter of 2020. As you can probably guess, it was the start of the pandemic. Fear, worry, and anxiety was pervasive in our society as the threat of the SARS-CoV2 and the COVID-19 pandemic was on the rise. As companies started working from home and restauarants were forced to close to in-person dining the fear only mounted. There was one thing that did help (at least it helped me) through all of this. That was data.
I started looking at data from reliable sources to keep track of the pandemic in the world. I started looking at total case counts, daily case counts, and other data points that were available. The long-story-short was as I saw the data I was often comforted because I knew what was going on and it was not as bad as the media portrayed it. No I wasn’t exempt from some of the negative effects of the pandemic and even though the “real” numbers weren’t as bad, regulations and precautions still caused economic downturn which impacted my life and countless others. However, what kept me “sane” still remained:
I kept track of the mounting total case counts, watching the number go up-and-up day by day. How did this keep me sane? I kept track of “percent increase” if we had 100 new cases, on top of 1,000 total infected, that’s only a 10% lift. This lift rate continued to stay low which was good. Total infections were not great, but we weren’t exponentially increasing as many presumed.
Even before it was being reported officially I was using the 2-week incubation period as being the total duration sick (although this is no longer a valid measure) and deducting that from the total infected to show how many were actively sick. Investigating how many were still actively sick was a way of assessing how bad it really was, knowing that those who had been sick but were likely recovered, indicated a level of immunity (in those people) and how many less people would be burdening the healthcare system.
As time went on more and more data points were being added:
- Recovered
- Hospitalized
- New infections per day
- Numbers tested
- Many more
As these data points were added, I incorporated them into my analyses and my reports. I kept track of positivity rates (compared to all tested). I looked at hospitalized to know how many would be in the healthcare system. I started to understand a more holistic picture of the pandemic and understood that maybe its not as bad as the media was portraying.
True, Right, and Real
I want to make one call-out. Sometimes, the data paints a more negative picture than previously understood. This is bound to happen as we encounter different situations. It was equally as likely that I would find that the positivity rates are higher than expected, recovery rates lower than expected, hospitalizations higher than expected, or any other type of picture. This is often the case when looking at hard facts, individuals and organizations with their head in the sand about issues that the data makes undeniable. Remember, when looking at data you have to approach it without your biases. In full transparency, the pandemic is, was, and has been bad and nobody was denying that thousands (and even tens of thousands) of people were getting infected and hospitalized with this virus. What became the therapy was “knowing the truth”. Although there are some that would argue the “truth” in this situation, I found that knowing the rates and numbers was more helpful than not and that helped me to keep sanity. As per debatability of truth, that is for another day.