The Winter is Coming: Managing Mental Health Outside of Therapy

Those ominous words from Game of Thrones have taken on totally new (and dare we say intensified) meaning to Minnesotans this year. In an average year, the National Institute on Mental Health reports that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) impacts millions of Americans annually, lasts 40% of the year, and disproportionately impacts people living in the Northern parts of the country. This year, compounded by the pandemic, people who study and suffer from mental health are expecting this winter to be one of the worst on record. And similar to how hospital beds fill up with patients when there’s a virus outbreak, therapists have started filling up as we start to deal with the first wave of the mental health crisis. 

 So what do you do if you need to supplement therapy, can’t find a therapist, or don’t have the resources to get regular mental health care? We’ve got some tips to help you fight the good fight at home. 

1. Try An App or Two

   • Track your mood so you know where you are at in an objective way: Daylio and eMoods are two popular choices, but there are many more to explore!

   • Practice your skills at home with ACT iCoach, What’s Up, or DBT Diary Card

   • Increase your practice of caring for you: Happy Not Perfect, Grateful, and Sleep Cycle help you take the headache out of self-care.

   • Use an app to use less apps: OffTime helps take the shaming out of screen-time management

2. Offline Solutions

   • Workbooks: There are so many, it’s hard to know where to start! You can find one based on an issue (anxiety, depression, self-esteem) or pick based on a particular approach that appeals to you (ACT, CBT, DBT). Whichever you choose, these can be great ways to increase insight, coping, and positive change.

   • SAD Lamp: Sure, it may seem silly, but these powerful lamps help you get your daily dose of sunshine, even on the most cloudy of days.

   • Body Maintenance: We all know to eat right, exercise, and take care of our bodies, and try to do it when we have the time and energy to. When we aren't attuned to our bodies, it can be easy to ignore or explain things away that actually might have an organic cause. Going to your doctor and making sure your vitamin levels are at their levels and that we have optimized what we have control over can be empowering. If you think it's needed or appropriate, talk to them about your mood and if any if there are any solutions, natural or pharmaceutical, that might be appropriate. We do maintenance updates on our phones and cars... we might as well do it for ourselves, too.

3. Done Everything? Try Alternative Solutions:

   • Healing crystals: Change up the energy in your life and ground yourself with some stones

   • Try something natural: Harvard Medical School found some benefits to things like St. John's Wort and Omega-3 Fats for mental health.

   • Try a homeopathic solution: Acupuncture, Massage, and Aroma Therapy might not feel as legitimate, but their benefits have been well researched and studied. If you've tried everything else, it might be worth a new approach.

4. Get Fancy (When/If Appropriate)

   • Meditate, with training wheels: Use a brain-sensing headband and app combination, like Muse, to give you bio-feedback on how you're doing on your practice of daily meditation.

   • Get your frequency right: Brain stimulators, like Fisher Wallace, can be helpful in treating and managing chronic issues of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

   • Get your rhythm right: HearMath is a program to get your heart and your brain in sync.

Still unsure about how you're going to make it through the winter, give us a call or email us and we'll be happy to connect you to the right resources for you!

Stress in a Stressful Time

Even if your life before this year was relatively smooth sailing, likely, you are not making it through this year unscathed. After all, who could mentally prepared for civil unrest, unemployment, natural disasters, and a global pandemic all at once?

The dramatic events of 2020 are especially difficult for those with a trauma history. People with trauma include those whose past is marked by economic insecurity, frequent moving, homelessness, food insecurity, sudden or unexpected loss, or medical trauma.

Trauma survivors typically develop an “Early Warning System,” alerting against perceived danger. For example, suppose your parents fought a lot when you were a child. In that case, you are likely to be especially sensitive to tension, conflict, or discord around you. This additional sensitivity offers insight as to why today’s upheavals are incredibly stressful for trauma survivors.

 If this sounds like you or someone you know, what can you do?

Become fully aware of your feelings and name them.

If you’re watching the news at home and feel panic starting to flood your system, become consciously aware of your reactions. After acknowledging your feelings, recall that you have heightened sensitivity to current events because of your past traumas. Try watching the feelings as, in most cases, they will fade in time. Also, this is an excellent time to change your environment, like going for a walk.

Use your support system.

By putting your truth on the table with someone you trust and acknowledging the impact it’s having on you, you’re gaining control over the uncontrollable. You’re also modeling to others that it’s okay for them to share with you. If you have a limited support system, it might help do some resourcing online or in therapy.

Self-care is important.

Stretching, yoga, journaling, meditation, cooking, or watching comedy can help you feel safe and present. Taking good care of ourselves requires making your needs a priority. As we take better care of ourselves, we will show up as a better partner, parent, worker, and friend.  

If what helps you happens to be watching puppy videos on Instagram, please tag us so we can also enjoy a little puppy Prozac!

Be kind to yourself.

The world was stressful before 2020, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be winding down any time soon. Allow yourself to feel sad, scared, stressed, exhausted—whatever comes up. Give yourself time to acknowledge and validate these feelings. You may find it helpful to acknowledge at least one positive for every negative thing you noticed.Are you struggling to go back into the office? Remember that you now have half the traffic you used to  Struggling trusting yourself? Remember, it’s okay to not feel like the authority after your entire world has changed. Ask someone you trust what their honest evaluation is of the situation.

Making small adjustments like this work to help you to keep you in balance.

If there was ever an appropriate time to feel a little crazy, this is it. If you find that your internal alarms are going off an awful lot lately, remember you are hardly alone, and at least you know your system is working! Finally, if you are struggling to turn them off, we are happy to connect you with help. Feel free to call us at 866-522-2472 or drop us a line at bizoffice@birchcounseling.com.  

Thriving in Social Isolation: part two

In my first post I featured the advice from astronaut Chris Hadfield on thriving while being socially isolated.  In this post I feature guidance from an another expert in social isolation, submariner Jon Bailey.  Like an astronaut in space, isolation for a submariner involves living in a high-risk environment, which in some ways parallels our situation with the COVID -19 pandemic.  

In his Twitter feed Bailey recommends:

ROUTINE: life at sea is dictated by shifts and routines. You can tell what day it was by what was for dinner. Make a routine now, test it and then write it down. Stick to it. Divide your day up into work, rest, exercise, meals, hobbies, etc. Do the same for kids.

PRIVACY: the only place private at sea was your bunk. Make a dedicated private time/place in the routine. Even if you timeshare the front room, give everyone a couple of hours alone. Do whatever you want: watch bad films, pray, yoga, arrange matches - whatever gets you through.

EAT: scran (food) onboard was usually pretty good and broke up the monotony of patrols. Take time to prepare meals. A good mix of “feast & famine” will stop the pounds piling on.

EXERCISE: you’ll have the advantage of not having to use a spinning bike in a switchboard (a very cramped area on a submarine). Exercise 20-30 mins a day at minimum. Fitness Blender on YouTube has workouts for all. It’s a natural antidepressant, breaks up the day, and keeps you healthy. Get outside when able.

CLEAN: that house is going to get grungy now that you’re spending a lot more time in it. Put time in your daily routine to clean and stick to it.

CONNECT: even during radio silence submariners still get a weekly message from loved ones back home. Bailey notes this was a weekly highlight. Keep in touch with your people. Arrange for a daily “coffee” catch up with coworkers online even if there’s no work to discuss.

PERSPECTIVE: like all other challenges, this one will end. It can be hard, but it is “better than dodging barrel bombs.” Don’t obsess over the news. Bring your world closer, focus on little things that you enjoy & make plans for the future.

Bailey, J. (2020, March 20). Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://twitter.com/SloopJontyB/status/1241134014725066754?s=20

THRIVING DURING SOCIAL ISOLATION

Of all the adjustments we need to make during the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps the most challenging is learning to live with social isolation.  In this post I am sharing a link which features undoubtably an expert in social isolation, astronaut Chris Hadfield, who has spent many months on the International Space Station.  Hadfield encourages embracing these challenging times including enjoying the slower pace and perhaps learning something new.

Hadfield also points out that living on the International Space Station, like living through a pandemic, involves being isolated in a high-risk environment.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uL5sqe5Uk8&feature=youtu.be

Hadfield offers the following key points:

Know the Risks.  Hadfield recommends that we go to a reliable source to understand “what is truly the risk you are facing.”  This clarity will help you stay balanced and “not be afraid of everything.”

Create Clear Goals.  Hadfield says it is important to set goals for the next day, next week, and month.  Goals give structure to your life.

Acknowledge your Constrains. Who is telling you what you need to do?  What financial resources do you have? What are your obligations?

Take Action. Once you are informed on actual risks and you have set your goals keeping in mind realistic constraints, take action.  Aside from taking care of your family and yourself, Hadfield suggest that you can try things you have never done before.  He points out that with the Internet and all that it allows access to “there is never been a better time to self-isolate.”

Sourced from:

Hadfield, C. (2020, March 21). An Astronaut's Guide to Self Isolation. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uL5sqe5Uk8&feature=youtu.be