Are you finding it hard to cope during the pandemic? The coronavirus has put incredible stress on all of us. Each and every one of us has experienced changes to our work life, disruptions to our family life, the anxiety of social isolation, worries about our jobs or business, involuntary changes to our daily routines, financial worries, and loss of our usual support networks. If you are feeling anxious or depressed, you are not alone. Depression rates have reportedly tripled during the pandemic (1). The psychological fallout is real (2) and many of us need some extra help.

Working with Victoria, you will find warmth, empathy, and help developing resilience and inner strength. With help, you can better manage stress, anxiety, and the many challenges of Covid-19. Family and friends are important, but they can’t take the place of effective, professional support.

We all want to get back to “normal” – to our level of functioning before the pandemic. Working with Victoria you can do much more. You can build resilience and improve your life in tangible ways, helping you to be stronger and cope after this pandemic.

When we are challenged by adversity, mental health challenges that we might have had under control tend to become more difficult to manage. In therapy, you can learn coping strategies that support your growth and emotional wellbeing. We recognize the truth in the saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Adversity can result in growth but it is not because of the adversity itself. Growth and healing is a result of how we interpret adversity and how we respond to challenges. By using this time to build coping skills and strategies we choose to facilitate growth.

If you already had challenges dealing with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, or drinking too much, the pandemic is likely to have pushed you towards more problematic coping tactics, including:

• alcohol or other substance abuse (are you drinking more than usual?)
• isolation (are you withdrawing or disengaging from family, work colleagues, and friends?)
• anger (are you having more difficulty staying calm? are you blaming others?)
• difficulty focusing on work?
• difficulty sleeping?
• lack of motivation?

If you see any of these maladaptive coping in your own behavior, seek out help now. You can learn positive adaptive coping skills.

Adaptive coping can help you become more successful, more optimistic, more flexible, more socially-connected, more action-focused, and more centered.

Here are a few tips for adaptive coping.

Tip 1: Plan and organize

Life is chaotic right now. You can reduce the chaos by organizing your time. You don’t have to regiment every moment of every day, but you organizing your tasks for each day, week, and month will help keep you centered. You can plan work tasks, household chores, family bonding time, activities that relieve stress, and leisure activities.

Planning and organizing will make you feel that you are more in control.

Tip 2: Relax

Relaxation is a necessity. You need stress relief. When you build relaxation breaks into your schedule you will build resilience, as you better manage anxiety.

Tip 3: Know your weaknesses

Are you just overbooked and doing too much? It’s okay to admit that you are overwhelmed.

Take a step back and focus on your most important tasks. By setting manageable expectations, you will be more resilient and productive. It’s okay to ask for help, take on just what you can manage, and delegate what you cannot handle. You don’t have to juggle everything for everybody!

Tip 4: Reach out for help

Most of us will need help during periods of stress. You don’t have to deal with this alone and you don’t have to just rely on family and friends for support. If you are ready to hear more, you are invited to contact us today for a free phone consultation.

References

1. Ettman CK, Abdalla SM, Cohen GH, Sampson L, Vivier PM, Galea S. Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(9):e2019686. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686
2. Vatansever, D., Wang, S. & Sahakian, B.J. Covid-19 and promising solutions to combat symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-00791-9