Due to the Co-vid 19 pandemic, there has been increasingly more reports of people suffering from mental health issues across the globe. While it is understandable that a world health crisis will trigger more feelings of anxiety, fear, anger, stress and inadequacy concerning jobs, health, social connection, is there something that the community can do to cushion this?
Governments and social services across the globe has introduced measures or made available resources for those afflicted by the pandemic (economic packages & mental helplines). While such efforts are laudable, a more important question to ask is whether there are “upstream” work to help people be more mentally resilient.
Psychologists have rightly differentiated the difference between a stressor and stress, and good and bad stress. While a stressor can refer to a potentially stressful event, it may or may not necessarily lead to stress (distress). While some succumb to a crisis, others overcome them. Hence, the term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic growth (PTG).
From my work with multiple clients and the opportunity to witness those who grow after a period of therapy, the client’s willingness and courage to confront his issues systemically and systematically is an important element to becoming whole. It is extremely difficult for someone to abandon old and familiar ways of thinking, feeling and acting (habits) even after recognising that those habits are unhelpful and debilitating.
Besides awareness (understanding self), the need to broaden one’s perspectives, experience and learn that “there is something larger than oneself” in life can help one navigate the ‘peaks & valleys’ (day to day adventure and stressors) in life more gracefully and compassionately.
Having a sense of hope, taking action where we can (strengthen our immune system – lifestyle change or vaccination) and accepting that there are many things we cannot control such as the course of a virus reminds us of the wise words of American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr in the opening stanza of The Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.