Dr Eddie Murphy

Coping with Covid

Taking care of our mental well-being is an important part of managing the COVID-19 crisis. Living with restrictions is a new experience for us all. For many, the feeling of a heroic coming together has now been replaced at by disillusion and exhaustion. Our challenge is knowing how to cope with these restrictions over months and months. Although we are all in the same global pandemic, we may each experience it differently. While some of us are missing family we can’t see; others are concerned that we may bring the illness home to loved ones or become sick ourselves. Many of us are worried about the economic effects and may already be unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 downturn.

For people who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs, there is a worry about being able to do them effectively from home or under the new at-work conditions that may prevail for a long time. We may feel lost as a result of our changed roles. All of this is on top of big changes in our daily routines.

Uncertainty

What makes this situation all the more difficult is the fact that we do not know when this will end or what challenges we face before it does. Is it any wonder we are feeling stressed or even struggling with our mental well-being? It is crucial that we first acknowledge how different and difficult our home and work lives are right now. It makes sense that we may worry, have difficulty sleeping or are more irritable. We mustn’t judge ourselves on how we are managing at the moment. We are doing the best we can with what we know and have available to us.

It can be helpful to have points in the day when we check in on ourselves by noticing any tension in our bodies, catching our patterns of thinking and observing our moods. If we notice we are experiencing stress we can try taking one or two minutes to focus on our breathing. There is a short breathing exercise at the end of this article. Practicing this regularly across the day can help prevent stress building too high.

It makes sense that during this difficult time we will worry. Worrying helps us by highlighting possible problems so we can plan to prevent or cope with them. Unfortunately, there is a lot of uncertainty right now which limits how much effective planning we can do. This means spending time worrying, which doesn’t help us and may lead to distress. It is important to take time out from worry: we can do this in a number of ways. A good daily routine, with a mixture of purposeful and pleasurable activities, gives our mind other things to focus on. It can be helpful to spend time with friends and family on social media, talking about things other than the virus, focusing on the present moment when we are away from work, and limiting how much time we spend watching and listening to the news.

Soothing Rhythm Breathing Exercise

It can be helpful to first practice this sitting down as changing how we breathe can make us feel a little dizzy. First, pay attention to your breath, following the flow of air and where you can feel movement in your body. Then, breathe in and out in a regular pattern, taking smooth long breaths in and out, and avoiding sharp in-breaths or big fast out-breaths. As you practice breathing in this way, you can start to slow down your breathing to a rhythm that is soothing for you: this may be breathing in for four seconds and our for five (breathing out for longer supports the body in relaxation) or it may be shorter or longer. When you are feeling grounded, you can expand your attention to the environment around you and take a moment to focus on returning to what you were doing with a greater sense of calm.

Dr. Eddie Murphy is a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Associate Professor, UCD School of Psychology