The Problem:
During our trip to Mars, we could feel sad because we don't see our family and friends outside of the spaceship. This can also lead to stress because you might not know if your family is doing alright. There is also another problem which is claustrophobia. This means you feel like you are stuck inside a small place, like a spaceship. We have the solutions to these so check them out!
Someone being claustrophobic
Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has an irrational fear of having no escape orbeing closed-in. It frequently results in a panic attack and can be triggered by certain stimuli or situations, such as being in a crowded elevator, a small room without any windows, or being in an airplane.
Treatment For claustrophobia
Treating phobias, including claustrophobia, relies on psychological methods. Depending on the person, some of these methods may include:
- flooding – this is a form of exposure treatment, where the person is exposed to their phobic trigger until the anxiety attack passes. The realisation that they have encountered their most dreaded object or situation, and come to no actual harm, can be a powerful form of therapy
- counter-conditioning – if the person is far too fearful to attempt flooding, then counter-conditioning can be an option. The person is taught to use specific relaxation and visualisation techniques when experiencing phobia-related anxiety. The phobic trigger is slowly introduced, step-by-step, while the person concentrates on attaining physical and mental relaxation. Eventually, they can confront the source of their fear without feeling anxious. This is known as systematic desensitisation
- modelling – the person watches other people confront the phobic trigger without fear and is encouraged to imitate that confidence
- cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) – the person is encouraged to confront and change the specific thoughts and attitudes that lead to feelings of fear
- medications – such as tranquillisers and antidepressants may also be helpful in addition to psychological treatment.
Someone being depressed/stressed
While some people describe depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom, others feel lifeless, empty, and apathetic. Men in particular may even feel angry and restless. No matter how you experience it, depression is different from normal sadness in that it engulfs your day-to-day life, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun. On Mars we could also get stressed from our jobs and our jobs might not have backups.
How to solve being depresed/stressed
Sometimes people will feel stressed and sad when away from home, family and friends. to solve this problem, we could have video chats between a Mars member and their family. We could give everyone a turn and then they might be happy to know that their family is safe and that they could chat with them so they wouldn't miss them as much! We could also have puzzles on the ship so we would get active with our brains and not be sitting around being sad. we could do board games with our shipmates so we could be happy and have fun and not feel stressed! Also, we could have other activities to make the trip to Mars AND when we are on Mars fun and easy so our travelers would not feel scared and sad from being so far away from home. When we do jobs we might get stressed and tired. This can be caused because of no backups. So the solution for this problem is that we take breaks when we need to and bring anti stress pills to Mars. We could also use the mechanic to build robots for jobs like garbage man so he or she can take breaks. Jobs like the dentist can be a backup when no one has an appointment and same with the doctor, garbage man (when no trash to pick up) and keep in mind, this is only when we need more backups.