Dr. Phil Clears Up His Comments About Coronavirus Lockdown

Dr. Phil is addressing the backlash to his comments he made about the lockdown.

If you didn’t see, the 69-year-old psychologist spoke to Laura Ingraham for her Fox News show, The Ingraham Angle, and opened up about the psychological issues people could get due to the shutdowns around the country.

Now, Dr. Phil is clearing up the air about those comments during a livestream (via).

“Last night, I said we as a society have chosen to live with certain controllable deadly risks every day — smoking, auto crashes, swimming — and yes, I know that those are not contagious, so, probably bad examples. And I refer to them as numbers of deaths that we apparently find acceptable because we do little or nothing about them. I get that they are not contagious, so they are probably not good examples,” he said.

He adds, “I am not an infectious disease expert. I am not a microbiologist. I look at this from a human-behavior psychological standpoint.”

“I’m concerned that the deterioration of the mental and physical health can be substantial from enduring prolonged quarantine while also worrying about being infected with a dreaded virus in the midst of a crashing economy, lost jobs and an inability to even feed your family,” Dr. Phil continued. “I have said that depression, anxiety, loneliness and a feeling of helplessness among other things can create problems that can last for years and cost lives and that just should not be ignored.”

“And therefore, we need to be looking to safely, responsibly follow the science and get back to our lives as soon as possible.”