COVID and Mental health: Being Positive In Midst of “Positive”s

 

In our previous blog, we discussed how the covid 19 pandemic has affected the mental health of people and what are the common concerns/ questions leading to mental stress, and gave some general suggestions to manage the same. In this blog, we intend to explain some specific psychological techniques to maintain a positive attitude in these difficult times. Specifically, we are going to address two important issues: managing the negative thoughts and adopting positive coping skills.

It is quite natural for us to get negative thoughts in day-to-day life. More so when we are going through adversaries, and needless to say, that we all are going through one of the most difficult times ever. Most of the negative thoughts are irrational and lead to negative emotions (like fear, anxiety, sadness) and negative behavior.  This relationship is diagrammatically represented below.

Hence, if you can replace your negative thoughts with positive ones, you can reduce your negative emotions and negative behavior. As discussed in our previous blog, the common negative thoughts haunting everyone nowadays are: "what if I get infected”, "What if my family gets infected?  "," Is my family safe? " “Will I die?” etc. Such faulty thoughts are called cognitive distortions in psychological terms.  A cognitive distortion is perceiving reality inaccurately. These distortions are negative, irrational, and self-defeating.

This distortion can be overcome by putting logical arguments against these thoughts. For example, for the thoughts like “will I die?”, the logical arguments will be “Looking at the recovery rates, the chances of me surviving are more than 95%”, “given such a high recovery rate, is it worthwhile to get so much worried about death?”, “do I have any special power to predict the future? Then why should I always predict negative?” “Why should I spoil my peace of mind imagining something negative about the future which I cannot foresee?” “Why can’t I just live in this moment and take it as it comes? (Needless to say, that this line of thinking to be adopted along with the strict anti-covid precautionary measures).

 Another useful psychological tool for mental well-being is to adopt positive coping skills. Coping refers to conscious efforts to solve problems of life. There are two types of coping skills, positive and negative. Negative coping mechanisms like alcohol, smoking, binge eating, self-harm should be avoided, and positive coping skills like acceptance, assertiveness, help-seeking, problem-solving should be adopted. Here we give a brief description of positive coping skills.

Acceptance: Sometimes the only option we have is to accept the situation as it is, rather than wishing for some dramatic change. For instance, we should accept that for months to come, life cannot return to normal, we cannot dine out with friends, or watch movies in theatres, or go on a holiday. The same holds for a mother who immediately wants to travel to meet her only daughter in another city. Acceptance relieves our distress and helps us to be mentally prepared to face the situation.

 Assertiveness: Being assertive is saying" no "but in a positive way. For example, saying “no” politely when your boss is asking to work overtime every day during this work from home days.  

Help-seeking: If you think seeking help is a sign of weakness, you are wrong. Seeking help from the right person at a right time is an essential positive coping strategy. And yes, people who care about you won’t feel burdened to lend a helping hand.

 

Problem-solving: discussing your problems with friends and family, brainstorming, and finding out an appropriate solution is an essential skill we should try to adopt.

 

 To conclude, to have a positive mindset, it is important to constantly monitor our thoughts, put rational arguments against negative thoughts, and adopt positive coping skills. Not to forget the basic measures like regular exercise, relaxation, socializing on the virtual platform, and minimization of screen time.

Dr.Bheemsain Tekkalaki

Consultant Psychiatrist

Sumana Psychiatry Center, Belagavi

Ms. Aishwarya Patil,

Clinical Psychologist

Sumana Psychiatry Center, Belagavi

www.sumanapsychiatrycenter.com