By Dr. Michele Nealon, President of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
There’s a bit of Chicken Little in all of us.
You remember the storybook character from our childhood—the anxiety-ridden chick so obsessed with her fear that the sky was falling that all of her energy went into hopelessly spinning her wheels and engendering widespread panic among her barnyard friends.
No, the sky isn’t falling. But the novel Coronavirus has commandeered our national psyche and set our mental wheels spinning. Our everyday activities have been replaced by a whirlwind of frantic must-dos: stock up on toilet paper, take our temperatures, worry about where we’ve been and who we’ve touched.
Media pundits and epidemiologists are bombarding us with numbers, while government officials issue a nonstop stream of instructions. Everyone is concerned—and rightly so—about our physical health. But what about our mental health?
Our emotions can quickly become entangled with our physical well-being. Even before COVID-19 became a household phrase, we were a nation under stress. The American Psychological Association has chronicled our angst through its annual “Stress in America” report, pointing to our brutally divided political environment—as well as concerns about health care and climate change—as primary reasons. Stress has been gnawing away at our general well-being for years, disrupting our sleep patterns, sending our nervous systems into overdrive and eroding our sense of optimism.
And that was before this insidious virus reared its ugly head, upending our world and robbing us of our way of life. Humans like structure and predictability; take that away from us and we can’t help but feel anxious and afraid.
There is ample evidence documenting the effect that anxiety can have on physical well-being, taking its toll on blood pressure, cardiac health and GI problems. We know that individuals who have both heart disease and an anxiety disorder are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those without a history of anxiety. And a full-blown panic attack triples a woman’s risk for a coronary event or stroke. It is this in-depth understanding of these interconnections that led The Chicago School of Professional Psychology to adopt this mantra: “No Health Without Mental Health.” We believe you can’t attend to either in isolation.
Experts recommend social distancing, but as humans, we need one another, and spending time with family and friends is often one of the most important things we can do to combat depression and anxiety. So, how do we take care of our emotional health while taking protective measures against Coronavirus. I’d like to offer a few bits of advice.
It’s still important to keep up our contacts. Even if we have to rely on the telephone, email, texts, and skype, we need to communicate with those we love. While social media might be your gateway of choice for these communications, try to resist its lure when following national reaction to this illness. Along with the benefits of social media, you’ll also have to deal with the plethora of fears, skepticism, and finger-pointing that are flung about freely in public discussions.
The news is 24/7, but we don’t have to make it our 24/7. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the multiple layers of available information. Choose one or two sources of information that you trust and check in just a few times a day. Then leave it alone until tomorrow.
Focus on the short term: One day at a time. It’s an easily manageable block of time. But don’t give up on the long term. Even though we don’t know when this will be over, there will come a time when it is behind us.
Make a list of things that worry you, and zero in on those you can control. You can make certain you follow CDC guidelines and limit where you go and who you see. Plan your day, and make sure you do something every day that brings you joy: Talking with a friend, watching a favorite show, taking a walk in the fresh air.
If you’re a parent, think through what your kids need to feel settled in their new reality. They are stressed, too, even if they deny it, and it’s up to you to set a tone of calm and consistency and to create a reassuring structure for everyone to follow. Choose your battles; this may not be the time to argue about video games or screen time.
And, finally, cut yourself some slack. These are unprecedented times. It’s natural to feel some anxiety, but the trick is to prevent it from taking over. Focus on taking care of yourself, and your family. And don’t be afraid to reach out for help if you need it.
Chicken Little never did take the time to realize the sky wasn’t really falling. Don’t let yourself fall into the same trap.
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