Psychologist Shawn Clarke has suggested that residents confining themselves to their homes because of fear about the crime situation could negatively impact their mental health and has called for action to be taken to prevent this.Contending that Barbadians who are still reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living need to get relief through social interaction, Clarke lamented that some people were now afraid to leave their homes at night.“When we look at socialising, that is developmental for society where we get to interact with our neighbours and our children get to interact with their peers and so on. So, it is at a stage where something needs to be done because, again, this can add additional stress to Barbadians with all the stress that they are already going through, and it can also have a mental health effect on society as well,” the founder and chief executive officer of Supreme Counselling for Personal Development said during an interview with Barbados TODAY.As many others have expressed over the past week, on the heels of Attorney General Dale Marshall saying that Barbadians did not need to worry about the recent spike in violence because it was occurring between rival gangs, Clarke said it was natural for residents to be fearful despite assurances offered by the authorities.
