Overcoming the fear of catching the disease during covid19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is fearful for all of us. Fear of catching the new disease and its effects can be devastating. This could cause strong emotions in adults as well as children. Almost every day newspapers, radio and TV channels have stories about the coronavirus and back-to-back coverage on the latest death tolls. Social distancing, makes us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety. However, these actions are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Fear and worry about our health and our loved ones, is very disturbing.  It can cause difficulty in sleeping or concentrating. It can change our eating pattern and worsen chronic physical and mental health conditions. Our anxiety and fears should be acknowledged and not be ignored.

Dealing with these fears and overcoming them in a healthy way will make us, our family and our community stronger.
• Stay away from watching news all throughout the day and night. Set a time to watch the news twice a day. Neither watch news nor log into social media few hours before going to bed. Keep your mind calm. Listen to melodious songs or read books to put yourself to sleep.
• Learn the scientific information about the disease and its spread. Ensure that you and your family follow hygiene rules as stated by doctors. Know the facts. Be cooperative with the government when they make steps to stop the spread of the disease and safeguard people.
• Be in touch with reality. Remind yourself of reasons not to worry, as you are aware of the fact that  you and your loved ones have been practicing hygiene and you are in a protected state. Induce positive self-talk. Whenever you get negative thoughts give it counter thoughts by telling yourself that you have taken all protective steps to keep yourself healthy.
• Eat healthy and nutritious food include lot of veggies and greens, drink fruit juices and enough water and exercise to develop immunity.
• Occupy your mind with relaxing activities, watch good movies, learn cooking, read novels, collect information on ancient history/politics, write blogs, publish articles to magazines, attend online webinars, play indoor games(avoid mobile games), do terrace gardening, draw and paint, create new notes for music instruments, introduce weight reduction plan, learn a new language so on.
• Speak to your close ones who are away from you to make sure that they are safe. Due to the developments in technology we can speak to people miles away through live audio and video calls.

The above stated are a few ways in which we can keep ourselves away from fear. But inspite of following these if you still face lot of fear seek professional help from a psychologist/psychiatrist. Counselling/therapy will definitely help you deal with your fears.

Swathi Priya. P
Counselling Psychologist
http://www.mindmake-upclinic.com/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Career Counselling for school students?

Career counselling  for school students will help your child to take a decision on what group (subjects) to choose in std 11 & which course to go for after 12thstd. We need to start preparing your child to think about his career goals from std 9 itself, for career choice. What will happen in career counselling? Career counsellor will talk to the student about themselves- their strengths, blindspots, special abilities, their dreams- & establish a good rapport. Take up career assessments (paper pencil work): 1.Know your aptitude (knowledge), 2.what you are interested in?- your child must first know what s/he interested in & 3.what kind of career suites your personality.(every person is different- introverts (sit separately & work, in laptop or in research- book reference) some are extroverts(want lot of people around, out going, indulge in teamwork& some people like travelling a lot). Discuss the test scoring. Parents too can discuss. Career counse...
Read more

More women are doing phD compared to men. YES

Image
Ponmudi sir yes correct, more women are doing phD compared to men. But I feel there are certain reasons for that. I too was a research scholar.  Just thought of sharing a few of my experience with my social media friends. There are a lot of good hearted teachers who are very much interested in their students' welfare. I too teach & I have beautiful colleagues. But it's not the same case everywhere. A few  professors/guides( both men & women)whom I have met are very rude people. They don't treat research scholars properly. A few will not even offer you a chair to sit, if you enter their cabin. The research scholar has to stand for long hours to even get a signature from their professor/guide. There are some professors who misuse their authority. For example, if that person doesn't like you or have some personal vengence against you s/he will not support you to finish your research on time. Your work can extend for years.  According to me in most cases women are m...
Read more

Handling working-from-home stress, during the covid19 pandemic

Working from home can definitely be appealing as there is no dress code, no close supervision, no travel time, and the freedom to decide where you work. Although employees who work from home may experience more of a difficulty, when it comes to setting boundaries between work and personal life. Work-from-home employees may struggle more with freeing themselves and ending their work day, compared to work in an office setting. Challenges professionals face, include adapting to new technologies, like audio and video- conferencing. At home, you have certain comforts that tempt you to indulge in. For instance, if you have a boring interaction with a client, in an office setting you just have to move with it and get on with your workday. But If you work from home, you can actually withdraw and go watch TV or play video games until you feel better. You may also experience many challenges, if you have children and elders at home. Depending on the age of your kids, you may need to deal ...
Read more