ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
You know who you are.
You, who abandoned a cart full of food in the middle of aisle 12, angry that the grocery store had run out hamburger buns.
You, who cursed the plows for piling a few feet of snow at the edge of the driveway you wrenched your back trying to clear.
You, with the thumb gone numb from channel-surfing.
You're not alone.
The snow has messed with our emotions.
It's part cabin fever - the irritability, agitation and depression that come from being confined in one area for a length of time - and part frustration over stalled routines.
What do you expect?
"We're all used to coming and going as we please," said Steve Strosnider, director of counseling and psychology at Lewis-Gale Clinic in Salem. "Most of our lives have a lot of variety. We want something at the grocery store, we just hop in a car and go. We've become spoiled as a society."
So if you're fuming in slow traffic because only two lanes of a three-lane road have been plowed, keep a lighthearted attitude. Look at it as an adventure, Strosnider said.
"People just need to do an attitude check," he said. "Where's the guarantee that we should go where we please all the time? That we have to have hot dog buns as opposed to a piece of bread?"
If you're cooped up, get outside if you're able, said Lyn Day, a clinical psychologist in Roanoke.
Sue Karr, who was stuck in her home on Bent Mountain until Thursday, has been bird-watching.
"My daughter has a friend who has a four-wheel-drive vehicle," Karr said. "They've been coming up and snowboarding and taking advantage of the mountain fun."
Pull out those games that have been collecting dust on the shelf, Day said. Get the kids in the kitchen and bake. Use the time to catch up on household tasks.
"I'm a baseball card nut," said John Whorley, who was confined to his home in Ferrum until a Franklin County sheriff's deputy and town maintenance worker shoveled him out Wednesday. "I've been putting [the cards] in albums and separating them."
About that TV set:
"Parents should use television sporadically, or else they will get burned out on it and it won't have any value," Day said. "Stay busy, keep entertained, but allow everyone to have a little bit of quiet time. Families can get awfully claustrophobic and close."
Diane Kelly, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Roanoke Valley, said several people called the association this week about domestic violence situations.
"The calls we've been getting today have been wild - fighting, somebody's drinking," Kelly said Wednesday. "I think people are really beginning to have cabin fever. I'm a little concerned what's going to happen this weekend."
The Roanoke Police Department has had no increase in domestic violence calls since the snowstorm, said Maj. Jake Viar. The department did investigate two suicides from gunshot wounds, he said.
People who are confined indoors with others should make an effort to find some time alone, Day said.
"It's important to separate yourself, even in relatively happy families, so you don't get on each other's nerves," said Day, who has three boys, ages 5, 7 and 9. "Children start picking on each other more. Parents start losing their tempers more. Take time to get distance from one another."
When people feel confined, they feel as if they've lost control, Strosnider said.
"So what do they do with people around them? They try to gain control," he said. "The only trouble is, that person is trying to gain control of [himself]. Conflicts arise."
Before venturing out, check that attitude, Day said.
"People have become kind of primitive," she said. "They're getting ugly in public right now. My husband said he saw two people fighting over a carton of milk in the grocery store.
"We need to be especially patient with our attitudes towards people right now. We all get a little crazy."
Staff writers Richard Foster and Diane Struzzi contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - Coping with cabin fever color STAFFby CNB