Imagine it’s early in 2020 and someone has found a rhythm to coping with depression and anxiety, perhaps a combination of counselling, medication, group activity, exercise, going out with friends and finding “me” time away from home and work.
Now it’s April 2020 and much has been taken away: the group counselling with others, the yoga class, the weekly get-together.
It’s a reality Toronto psychologist Dr. Vivian Lee is seeing right now with patients and if that weren’t enough, most are the front-line workers the public is trying to support and protect.
She says one patient has been working extremely hard on his recovery, not just from anxiety, but also a physical injury, through yoga classes, outdoor activities and physiotherapy.
“All of that has been kiboshed,” she said.
Dr. Steve Joordens from the University of Toronto-Scarborough, who has actually created a new online course to manage stress during the pandemic, said it’s a cascading problem that can affect not just parents and workers, but students as well.
“We live socially all the time and now suddenly we’re in this highly-stressful situation and we’re told you cannot touch people, you cannot come close to them, you cannot hug them,” he said. “That’s one of the things that makes this such a nasty kind of situation.”
The pandemic’s impact on mental health has already been researched in various studies and government at all levels of in Canada have increased funding to various resources from crisis phone lines to partnerships with counseling and support organizations.
For Dr. Lee’s patient and others who have had their previous support systems significantly impacted, one of the major strategies is figuring out structure in the new landscape.
Having routines is often cited as one of the most effective ways of handling anxiety and Lee says that’s meant having to get creative with the patient above.
“Get out of bed at whatever time, I don’t care what time it is, but try to make it the same every day,” she said. “Sit down at the kitchen table, if you don’t want to eat, you’re not hungry yet, fine, just sit down with a cup of coffee.”
The plan includes doing some sort of yoga and physical activity at the same time her patient normally would attend an appointment.
“It’s still keeping that structure,” she said. “That’s a reminder of, this is the time I focus on my injury, this is the time I focus on my mind.”
But adding to the stress can be taking care of children as well and Joordens says it’s not only a challenge of keeping kids occupied, but how it affects a way we value ourselves.
It’s a reference to the reflected appraisal process where how colleagues respond to us - if they think we’re competent and trustworthy – influences how we feel about ourselves.
“Now that that’s gone, there’s a lot of people at home, who in essence, have lost a big chunk of their personality, that professional side is gone,” he said. “So they have to almost rediscover a new way of being.”
Joordens says it’s a transition people should be aware of and can be dealt with by planning activities outside of meals and sleep, that are positive.
“Something like karaoke, singing and often laughing and all these things that counter anxiety,” he said, adding we should also put limits to how much news we consume as not to feel overwhelmed by the pandemic and replacing the texts on our phone with actually talking on it.
"We have to rediscover the power of the telephone, by hearing the tone of someone's voice, you get a very clear sense of where they are emotionally," he said, adding families should also check up on certain family members and friends as a group as well.
Rebecca Shields, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association in York-Simcoe, echoes the strategies of structure and habits, saying while we should do as much as we can to connect directly with family and friends, there is an online component that can be effective.
She said one of the positives of more people being online, is being able to share new hobbies and projects that can help pass the time, as during the pandemic, one of the running online trends has been people taking up making bread.
“I want to encourage the people that are starting to draw and are baking and cooking and all those creative things,” she said. "All of that is going to help as you discover how to manage your mood and bring things that are joyful to your life in this time of change and transformation."