“I am afraid to go out on the street.” Crime undermines the mental health of Ecuadorians and stops the long-awaited reactivation

The athlete Álex Quiñónez is one of the most recent victims of the violence that forces Ecuadorians to modify their behavior patterns: “It hurts a lot, but it is also scary and a lot”Wrote a tweeter on Friday night commenting on the athlete’s murder. Along with the changes in habits there is an emotional affectation.

Leave your cell phone at home when you go out or not show it in public, do not wear “brand” clothes, do not wear jewelry or headphones, have “old” purses, place locks on doors, do not eat in restaurants, do not go out at night or being very attentive to what happens around are some of the “strategies” currently used by Ecuadorians to try not to be the target of criminals.

Lourdes Fariño, a nutritionist, says that she avoids going out at night and when she has to return home from her office, she removes earrings, rings and keeps her wallet under the seat of her vehicle. “I have a fake wallet in the car with an old wallet and some things. If they rob me, I give that up, but I try to get to my house as quickly as possible, ”he says.

Meanwhile, Ismenia Álava and her family have chosen not to eat in restaurants. She lives in Quevedo, Los Ríos. He states that insecurity has affected them emotionally and mentally: “There is a fear that a stray bullet could lead you to death by being in the wrong time and place.”.

When she leaves her home, she affirms, a member of her family who stays at home is waiting for her to send messages about where she is and, especially, when she returns so that they “immediately open the door”, since there is the possibility of that they rob to him to the foot of his house.

Self-preparation is key to acting in risky situations such as a shootout or assault with shots, experts say

Instead, Álex Pin stopped carrying his cell phone and using headphones to go to the gym near his home. He lives in block 1 of Bastión Popular, in Guayaquil. He gets up at 06:00 to exercise: “I had to change my route to work. Now I’m going through a shopping center because there is some security with the guards, but I am afraid that motorcycles will pass and my belongings will be stolen”.

All these “strategies” are valid to mitigate the existing fear, indicates the psychologist Angélica Santillán. However, this is not “going to save us from being victims of a stray bullet in the middle of a shooting,” he says. He affirms that feeling fear in these types of insecure circumstances is normal, since it is a natural activation mechanism that the brain has to be alert, but if we do not rest from that constant state of alertness, it ends up damaging our psychological and physical functioning..

“We will face adverse effects such as inability to relax, distrust, avoiding social activity, difficulty concentrating, etc. They can easily become anxiety pictures where innumerable functions and capacities are already affected, such as sleep, appetite, concentration ”, he points out.

That’s 162 pencil sharpener rounds in 2021; the Police have arrested almost 100 suspects, but without complaints it is difficult to obtain sentences

With this the psychologist Christian Arias agrees and adds that if anxiety occurs it becomes a clinical picture that can lead to emotional dysregulation that transforms into panic attacks.

“What at first is a healthy fear that allows the citizen to take precautionary measures becomes a collective anguish. I have already seen this in my office, a state of hyper alertness and people decide not to leave their homes.”, dice.

This, the expert indicates, impacts on other sectors such as the economy: “The other day a person told me that next holiday he would lock himself up at home due to insecurity, but he aspires to reactivate tourism. From the emotional point of view there is also an economic impact ”.

To try to be mentally healthy facing insecurity, Santillán recommends accessing truthful, clear, and precise information on criminal activities, for example, if in a certain sector, at a specific time, there is a greater probability of assaults.

“In stolen traffic lights we can be more vigilant avoiding exposure, keeping our belongings where they are not visible, avoiding being careless. Understanding that there will be situations that are within our control and others that are not, ”he says.

What does the state of exception against crime mean in Ecuador?

According to figures from the Ministry of Government, until last August there have been more than 16,000 robberies of people and, with a cut to September, 1,753 intentional homicides. Fridays are the days in which citizens are most assaulted and the time range where criminals mostly operate is from 12:00 to 17:59. Precisely last Friday the murder of the athlete caused alarm in Guayaquil.

In fact, the death rate per 100,000 inhabitants has more than doubled in Ecuador. So far in 2021 this metric reaches 13.6, but in 2016 it stood at 5.8. We are close to matching the 2010 figure (17.5). To try to reduce these statistics, the national government declared a state of exception this week.

Due to the high numbers of deaths, countries like the United States have constantly placed Ecuador on their list of travel alerts, which has various levels of danger. In June of this year, the northern nation excluded the country from level 4 and placed it at 3, which implies reconsidering the trip to Ecuador. In addition, the US advises its citizens not to travel to the Carchi, Sucumbíos and Esmeraldas provinces due to crime and violence.

However, insecurity also scares domestic tourists. Leslie León lives in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos. There have been no murders in that province in 2021 and robberies are rare. She affirms that she travels to Guayaquil to visit her family, but that this city scares her.

The Government has recognized the impact of insecurity and therefore hopes, with the military in the streets, to restore the peace of mind that has been taken away by crime.

Social networks increase morbidity

Although social networks have helped to make the criminal acts that happen in the country even more visible, they have also promoted morbidity in a certain group of people and show the little sensitivity and lack of empathy of those who are in charge of visualizing them. Now it is “normal” for WhatsApp groups, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts to share, for example, videos of the killings in prisons.

“It is valuable and vital to have information immediately. The problem is when this replicator effect is indiscriminate. Messages that spread terror, morbidity, are viralized. This is going to have negative consequences for those who are exposed to this content, ”says Santillán. (I)