Small steps can help ease anxiety: expert
FEELING anxious amid the coronavirus pandemic is OK, the state’s peak mental health body says.
Mental Health Council of Tasmania chief executive Connie Digolis said the issues facing the state due to the virus would be impacting on everybody’s mental health, and it was normal to feel stressed about the situation.
“I think it’s important to stress that this is an environment where it’s perfectly normal to feel anxious,” she said.
“We’re dealing with a situation that’s completely uncharted waters for us. None of us have practised for this.
“We’re being asked to do virtually everything differently for now. We’re being asked to live, work and play in a completely different way and we’re being told how to do it. In a country that hasn’t really known war or a dictatorship, it’s quite a big shift to make.
“Our very first need is security, and that has been taken away from all of us.”
Ms Digolis said it was important to “cut ourselves some slack”.
“We need to shrink things down to what we can control,” she said.
“What can we see that we can do for ourselves that can lower our anxiety? For me, it’s as simple as making sure I talk to my children about the importance of washing their hands … and that I am being more cautious in my interactions with the people around me.”
With some Tasmanians in self-isolation or quarantine, she also said it was important to keep things in perspective.
“It’s important to trust that it’s a temporary situation,” she said.
“It also helps to limit what we’re reading, to keep it to sources we know are reliable and factual.
“It’s a really emotive situation. A lot of what you read makes you ask more questions. It becomes a vicious cycle.”
Though it was an uncertain time for everyone, Ms Digolis said there would be some good to come from the situation.
“Some of the really exciting things we might get out of this is the stuff we always see after events, like after bushfires when we see a massive outpour of generosity and kindness,” she said.
“Now is not the time to be worrying about who created the virus or how it was created. Now is not the time for conspiracy theories.
“I believe if we follow all of the advice we are being provided, that will deliver a better outcome for all of us.”