We tend to have pretty good awareness when it comes to our physical health. Changes in our bodies – a pain, fever, congestion, gastrointestinal issues – make us take notice and take action. Mental health changes, on the other hand, are not always as easily identified. How would you rate your awareness of your mental health, and what sorts of things should you look out for?
In these extraordinary times, many of us face the daunting task of finding “a new normal” even as the future continues to be uncertain. It just makes sense that rates of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems are on the rise.
The good news is that human beings are pretty resilient creatures – for example, the majority of people who experience a severely traumatic event recover from the psychological stress naturally over time. The less good news is that prolonged stress can sap us of some of that resilience. Think of it as the psychological equivalent of having a weakened immune system (i.e., resilience) which can make you more susceptible to infection (i.e., new mental health challenges).
How is the prolonged stress and uncertainty affecting your mental health? Have you noticed differences in your mood, your anxiety level, your relationships? Here are some specific areas where people might notice changes:
- Changes in mood (e.g., feeling down or blue, or extreme fluctuations in mood)
- Less ability to derive pleasure from things (e.g., feeling “blah”)
- Decreased interest in usual activities
- Decreased energy level
- Decreased ability to concentrate
- Changes in appetite, eating, or sleep
- Increased irritability or anger, more easily frustrated
- Increased anxiety
- Difficulty disengaging from worry, or extreme preoccupation with new concerns
- Difficulty in relationships
- Unhealthy coping strategies (e.g., excessive alcohol or substance use)
It’s hard to ignore the general stress that we’re all under. It may not be as easy to take stock of how you are affected personally. The “new normal” may mean changing your idea of what feeling OK looks like, and that is to be expected.
Many people will identify changes in several of the listed areas; if you have said yes to any of them, you can start by assessing how often the problem occurs, how much it concerns you, and how much it interferes with you doing things you want or need to do. Checking in on your mental health means developing an awareness of how your psychological systems – like your thoughts, feelings and behaviours – are holding up under current circumstances. And of course if you notice extreme changes like feeling completely unable to cope, or are having thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life, you should seek out emergency services.
Returning to your pre-COVID mindset, whatever that was, may not be a reasonable goal right now – we are living through a pandemic, after all. Social distancing has turned into a longer proposition than many of us imagined and the way you feel today is likely different from how you felt when COVID first began to affect your life.
Focusing on how you feel right now helps you notice where you need to take care of yourself to bolster your resilience – an investment in your future!
