Life In Quarantine: How To Maintain Psychological Health. 6 Rules - Self-development, Society

Many countries have closed borders, residents are advised to reduce social contacts and go into voluntary self-isolation in order to stop the spread of coronavirus. Life in quarantine can be a serious test, and if we are generally ready to solve technical difficulties, the manifestation of psychological consequences can be an unpleasant surprise. How to maintain psychological health?

Voluntary prison

Unfortunately, even those who try to look positively at the current situation and cheerfully draw up lists of "things they never get their hands on" during isolation, will inevitably face the obvious fact - we do not know how long this will all last. How many days, weeks, and maybe months will we all have to spend in this mode? And with each additional day, the difference between "I want" and "I have to" will become more noticeable.

Separation from friends and relatives, restriction of free movement, boredom and uncertainty about the future await us. Research shows that the most common psychological effects of quarantine are post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. They can appear in a person's life even for three years after isolation. To cope with their experiences, people often resort to alcohol, smoke more, use other psychoactive substances. Eating disorders, TV addiction and Internet addiction are exacerbated.

Lonely people may face an increased sense of uselessness, abandonment, fears of being left without help. Family people will be forced to constantly be in the company of household members, and this is fertile ground for exacerbation of conflicts, irritation, anger that have not yet been manifested. There is a high likelihood of increased incidence of aggressive behavior, psychological and physical abuse. Everything that has been successfully supplanted, hidden and hushed up has very high chances of breaking through.

Anyone who has undergone individual or group therapy will confirm that meeting with hitherto hidden from the realization of uncomfortable feelings and their own unpleasant manifestations is a rather painful process. But the current situation provokes thousands of people to pass through it on their own, without the training and support of a specialist. At home, not in the safe atmosphere of a psychiatric office

The good news is that our psyche is very adaptive, over time most of us will successfully rebuild in accordance with the "new norm" of life. We will develop habits and other routines. If you do not have support in the form of a psychologist, you can help yourself to go through the current tests a little less traumatic and maintain your psychological health as best as possible.

Psychological antivirus

6 Tips to Maintain Mental Health

Quarantine is an abnormal situation. The main task for this period is to survive this time without losses.

1. Be considerate of yourself. Identifying an emotion before it takes over, recognizing it, and discovering the need behind it can avoid escalation and subsequent explosion.
2. Once you have identified a need, define what exactly can help you fulfill it. Try to come up with several options for how you could get it yourself, without resorting to the help of others.
3. Not every emotion should be immediately conveyed to the addressee. If you need to share your feelings with loved ones, use self-messages and clearly state the request.
4. If unpleasant feelings take over you, distance yourself from other people. Try to shift your focus away from the topic you're concerned about and avoid getting caught up in emotion. For example, come up with several solutions to a problem and write them down on paper. Do something that requires you to concentrate, do some exercise.
5. Do not be isolated. If you are going through a quarantine alone, keep in touch with people you like using instant messengers and by phone. Organize an online get-together, offer to have dinner or watch a movie together online. If you are isolated with loved ones, do not neglect communication on topics other than everyday ones, do not distance yourself from each other inside the home, and do not move away emotionally.
6. Try to limit the flow of information that worries and upsets you. Being aware of or constantly monitoring everything that is on the Internet on a topic of concern to you is two different things. Set aside a short time to review verified sources so as not to aggravate the anxiety.