Faith, a paralegal, was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 2016. While being treated in a neuropsychiatric ward in 2020, Faith had to be discharged to prepare the hospital for the COVID-19 pandemic. “Nothing really changed because I was prepared inside the ward for a life in isolation. But that was what I thought,” she said. “I started hurting myself in many ways and I admit that it wasn’t a healthy way of coping but that’s what I did. I stopped taking medications and started isolating myself even more,” she continued.
Faith practiced mindfulness to deal with the many stressors and triggers to her mental health. “[I tried] everything that developed mindfulness. When you adopt a healthy mindset or a mindful mindset, you create better relationships.”
Do a self-check
If you are pressured, overwhelmed, or currently doing something but feel that you should be doing something else, you experience stress. If you are worrying excessively, are restless, irritable, fatigued, and have sleep disturbances or muscle tension, you are experiencing anxiety. If you have difficulty sleeping, eating, and lack interest in the things that used to be enjoyable to you, you might be in a depressed mood.
As an outcome of the pandemic, psychosocial problems including depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts have been reported to increase significantly around the world. A study showed that 20% of COVID survivors acquired a mental health problem within three months of having the infection.
Now that we are called to adjust yet again to live with COVID-19, we need to intensify our ability to recover from or adjust to a new set of challenges. As the saying goes, be like the bamboo, bend but do not break.
Thankfully, there are means by which we can rewire our brains to respond to emotions, changes, and misfortunes in a more resilient way.
How to be more resilient
1. Get adequate sleep
Adequate sleep is necessary to recover and heal from our daily stress and trauma. When you lack sleep, you become more sensitive to stress. Hence, if you are more emotionally reactive, the more irritable you will be.
Eight hours of sleep is only the average; some may need more and others may need less. To help you sleep, you can play relaxing music, do relaxing activities, or avoid drinking caffeine six hours before bedtime.
2. Boost your physical health
To enhance resilience, it is necessary to pay attention to factors that improve physical health, particularly exercise and diet. Engaging regularly in aerobic exercise such as walking, running, and biking strengthens the body to fight stress. Exercise improves mood, attenuates the stress response, boosts cognitive function, and enhances our capacity to recover from illness.
3. Mindfulness Exercises
Mindfulness is being attuned to the present moment which is honed by exercising your five senses. Studies show that mindfulness exercises and meditation help relieve stress, boost focus, lessens emotional reactivity, and give greater cognitive flexibility. Several mindfulness practices for daily life can be found online, including this one.
4. Express how you feel
“I am sad.” It is part of self-care and improving mental health to be able to express how you feel authentically. The simple act of labeling an emotional experience can reduce stress. If you experienced anything particularly stressful, writing it down or verbally sharing it with a trusted person will lessen the tension to your mental health.
You can set aside time to reflect on how you are feeling and as best as you are able, acknowledge and validate that feeling. Suppressing your emotions can lead to emotional exhaustion which can affect your work and relationships. The more that you keep it to yourself, the more that it becomes a problem.
Human emotion wheel from https://humansystems.co/emotionwheels/
5. Practice self-compassion
Taking care of yourself is an essential prerequisite for taking care of others. Self-compassionate people treat themselves the same way that they treat a friend. What can you say to yourself to validate your own feelings? What can you do to make yourself feel calm and safe? How can you motivate yourself with kindness, support, and understanding?
6. Connect with loved ones and friends, show your gratitude and appreciation
Encourage loved ones, family, and friends to also share their experiences with you. Positive social connections improve mood and reduce stress responses. Expressing your gratitude to another person and recognizing their good deeds strengthen your relationship with them and is beneficial to your psychological wellbeing. It is particularly important to have close meaningful relationships rather than a large network of casual friends.
Begin with yourself so you can better serve others
Start with yourself even as you check on those around you. It may seem easier to help others than ourselves but that should not be the case. Do not wait for mild problems to become moderate or severe. Give attention to mild sadness or anxiety and address them before they lead to clinical depression, anxiety disorders, or suicidal thoughts.
When to ask for help
Sources of support
If you are feeling overwhelmed, consult with whoever you are most comfortable discussing your feelings with—a friend, a family member, or a specialist.
You may set an appointment in the Philippine General Hospital through OCRA and request a consultation with Telemed Adult Psychiatry. The Psychiatry outpatient department can be reached at (02) 8554-8400 loc. 5304.
Read the Filipino version of this article.
See related YouTube video in Filipino.
Anne Marie Alto
