The pandemic has brought plenty to worry about. A mental health expert offers these tools to ease the mind

×

Expand

Illustration by Visual Generation / iStock / Getty Images Plus / via Getty Images

Even if you have not contracted the coronavirus, the resulting crisis has provided plenty to worry about: loneliness, event cancellations, business closures, and unemployment. 

A recent national poll released by the American Psychiatric Association found that 48 percent of Americans were anxious about the possibility of getting COVID-19, with 40 percent of those polled worried about becoming seriously ill or dying after being infected. 

Gary Morse is the vice president of research and development at Places for People, a local mental health service. “If we can refocus on the positive and what gives us a sense of meaning and purpose in life during this difficult time, we will not only cope but we will [also] take these things to another level and turn what’s difficult into something that can be positive and meaningful,” he says. He offers these tips for managing stress.

Awareness: It’s important to identify not only the external situations that are causing the stress but also your internal feelings. “This is where we can run into emotional problems if we don’t acknowledge what we’re feeling,” says Morse. 

Acceptance:  You don’t have to like it, but accepting that the feelings you are experiencing are normal for the situation is helpful. “I think there’s a deeper truth that we can get to, and that is, we cannot control everything in life,” says Morse. “It’s one of those existential truths that we usually don’t like to admit or accept, but it’s a reality of being human.” 

Control: There are still things we have a say in. What can you do to minimize that stress? If reading the news is causing you to fret, limit your exposure. We can also get in the habit of making healthy coping strategies such as resting, eating well, and practicing deep breathing. 

Connection: Reframe the term “social distancing” to “physical distancing.” “It’s critically important to stay socially connected. You might have to be more proactive and creative, but thankfully we live in an age where there are a lot of tools to help us connect,” Morse says. 

Compassion: “We’re all in this together. We’re all experiencing the same threat of the virus,” says Morse. Practice compassion by checking on neighbors or reaching out to friends.

Gratitude: “Stress can put us in a narrow, negative perspective, so it’s useful to pull back and think about what you feel grateful for in life,” Morse says. See whether you can identify something different each day and write it down. He suggests: “The pandemic doesn’t rob us of the opportunity to find joy in our lives.”