Mental Health COVID-19

How to protect your
mentalhealth in the time
of coronavirus

From social isolation to working on the front line,
the mental health challenges of the pandemic are
wide reaching. We ask experts how to protect
ourselvesHEALTH 22 April 2020

By Moya Sarner

Eiko Ojala

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632790-900-how-to-protect-your-mental-health-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/#ixzz6KLRjZV3G

AFTER weeks of complete social isolation, Italy has undergone what psychiatrist Paolo Brambilla calls “a social experiment that has never been done before”. The country has suffered a massive death toll from the coronavirus, and has endured one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. The effects on the nation’s psyche will be profound, says Brambilla, who is at the University of Milan. This month saw half of the world’s population enter some form of confinement, and many people are facing the biggest threat to their health and livelihood in recent history.

“We are seeing the spread of a virus, but we have also, from the very beginning, been seeing the spread of fear as well,” says Aiysha Malik, a psychologist at the World Health Organization. As well as having to wrap our heads around the threat of the virus itself, public and personal life has changed beyond recognition. The actions we have had to take to curb the spread of disease have left some of us struggling to cope with a lack of childcare while working, a loss of income, separation from family and friends, and serious health fears. For others, it has meant working on the front line, facing potentially traumatic experiences and making tough moral decisions. Whatever our situation, it’s time to look at what we can all do to limit the toll on our mental well-being.

“People are facing a novel, threatening and unpredictable experience,” says psychiatrist Andrea Danese at King’s College London. “At the same time, people are losing important coping strategies for stressful situations, enduring disruption in their routine and having to distance themselves from friends and families. They may also suffer the losses of loved ones. It is important to consider the longer-term implications of this emergency for mental health.” In a survey published last week in The Lancet Psychiatry, people in the UK reported increased anxiety, depression and stress, and concerns about social isolation. These were larger worries than the prospect of having covid-19./.../

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632790-900-how-to-protect-your-mental-health-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/#ixzz6KLRVqytv