COVID-19 and Mental Health: 4 Tips to Help You Cope

If you find yourself feeling agitated, sad, or overwhelmed because of the pandemic, rest assured that you have more power over your mental and emotional wellness than you might realize, even under such stressful conditions. Take the following four tips to heart as you reclaim your quality of life.

1. Recognize the Risk Factors and Trouble Signs

Although an estimated 40 percent of Americans currently struggle with pandemic-related depression, certain groups may have an elevated risk for it. These groups include elderly nursing-home residents, individuals who experienced previous trauma, young people, minorities, and those already combating mental illness.

Stress and mood disorders can sneak up on you gradually. However, you can recognize the onset of such problems once you know their common symptoms. Watch out for trouble signs such as insomnia, changes in appetite, abuse of drugs or alcohol, obsessive negative thoughts, and expressions of concern from others.

2. Control Your Anxiety or Depression Triggers

While you may not control every circumstance associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still learn how to identify the triggers that set off your anxiety or depression. You can then take control over many of these triggers by severely limiting your everyday exposure to them.

If you feel constantly inundated by bad news, ask yourself how much of that news actually represents new or valuable information. The Internet and cable TV make it all too easy to experience the same distressing stories again and again. Restrict your media access as a means of minimizing these painful triggers.

If self-isolation feeds your mental and emotional symptoms, explore safe, healthy ways to connect with your world. Stay in touch with friends and family members via email, phone, or streaming video. (You can even play online games with friends in real-time.) Look for online communities of people who share your interests. 

3. Work on Your Physical Well-Being

Your physical health has a major impact on your mental and emotional health, and vice-versa. People with untreated mental illness face a higher risk of heart disease, lung conditions, cancer, and other ailments. At the same time, poor health can affect your hormone levels and brain biochemistry.

If you want to make yourself more resistant to COVID-related emotional or mental distress, make physical wellness a top priority. Eat a balanced diet, get as much sleep as your body needs, exercise to boost blood flow and endorphin levels, steer clear of harmful drugs, and relax through mindfulness meditation.

Optimal physical health also gives you one less thing to worry about as the pandemic rages on. Sufferers from chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure seem particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. By managing these risk factors, you improve both your physical and your emotional well-being.

4. Don't Let Self-Isolation Keep You From Seeking Help

Mental and emotional problems can have serious consequences if you let them go unaddressed. However, some individuals may feel hesitant about seeking medical help during a pandemic because they worry about spreading or receiving the virus. Fortunately, you can get the help you need and still stay safe.

Psychotherapy clinics can provide highly effective counseling in the form of online telemedicine, messaging apps, or simply over the phone. If your thoughts and feelings take an especially alarming turn, numerous online helplines staffed by caring volunteers can help you regain your equilibrium.

The Heritage Mental Health Clinic team can help you through the emotional pitfalls of COVID-19 and its effects. Contact our clinic today to request safe, socially-distanced telemedicine services, from counseling to prescription refills.