Apologies if this Blog is less chatty than usual, however there is a lot of practical information I want to pass on this time. As you know, I’ve been giving short talks and meditations on Facebook Live rather than writing Blogs recently, but I felt the need to return to the keypad this week.
This week has been termed the week of ‘The Slump’ and I have definitely noticed this in both myself and those I have talked and worked with over the last seven days.
People are reporting having ‘lost their mojo’, feeling exhausted, unmotivated, fed-up, frustrated and just low. Dr Shahid Latif, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director working in the National Health Service, explains that this is due to a build up of emotional distress and dysregulation caused by desensitization over 3 months of isolation. Due to the plasticity of the brain, it has become wary of coming out into the world, even while we feel the pull to re-engage. The length of time has de-motivated us, and without a definite prospect to look forward to, we are struggling to find things to work towards whilst simultaneously being told to prepare for lockdown to ease and life to return to a ‘new’ normal.
And of course, we have been hearing about all the other slumps this week: the economic slump, the education slump, the slump in charitable donations…and so it goes on. It is hard to be positive when there seems little to look forward to.
Society is changing, not just due to Covid but also the Black Lives Matter campaign gaining momentum and challenging us all to reflect on our own values and beliefs, as well as causing concern over the behaviour of some of the protestors and the spread of the virus in mass gatherings. These are uncertain times, and our brains don’t like this.
However, there are some steps we can take to help ourselves
Dr. Latif reminds us that our brains can adjust to the new normal and that in the meantime we need to accept that there will be a certain level of anxiety around. Accepting this as normal prevents us from adding to our anxiety by worrying about being anxious.
We also need to avoid social media – especially fake news as this heightens anxiety and feeds into negative thinking.
Remember that if we are fearful, it is fear of infection, not fear of open spaces that we are feeling. Some people are concerned that they have developed agoraphobia however this is unlikely.
Get into a routine and prioritise. Avoid over consumption of news and talk to trusted people.
Continue any new hobbies you have taken up.
Remind yourself it will take time and adjust slowly and be kind to yourself and others.
Shauna H. Springer Ph.d, writing about the psychological impact of COVID-19 in Psychology Today Magazine also reminds us of some key points:
We are operating at survival level (and this is exhausting after a length of time).
Essential priorities are in flux (the unwritten rules by which we live e.g. earning a living and protecting those we love).
Doing nothing is harder for many of us than doing something really hard. e.g. ‘shelter in place’ is more difficult than an instruction to do something tangible.
Operating in defence mode may lead to second-order effects that we would be wise to anticipate. e.g. hoarding is unsustainable but equally so is pulling out of economic activity.
She suggests that we need to be creative in how we connect with each other using all modes available to us now; to find ways to be productive again in new roles that use our existing strengths, and (as a community) find new ways of doing business that will hold our economy stable through this crisis.
Springer highlights some of what she sees as key points that society is missing now as we are concerned about finding ‘quick fix’ solutions. I certainly agree with that sentiment, but personally disagree that yoga and meditation (which she mentions) are quick fix solutions; these are both disciplines which take many years to master but which can and do provide some noticeable relief after a few weeks of daily practice.
She also dismisses the practice of gratitude (‘counting your blessings’ as she describes it) however this has been demonstrated to create changes in hormone regulation as well as in the brain’s pathways which lead to more positive outlooks and therefore improved mood.
Dr. David R. Hamilton has researched this effect in some detail and his summary can be found here along with some practices:
Practicing gratitude also supports our development of what is called reappraisal – seeing things in a different way, a practice used in mindfulness which includes focusing on what we can be thankful for rather than negative bias (see Holzel et al., 2011).
As Rick Hanson PhD. explains: the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones (see https://www.rickhanson.net/take-in-the-good/ ). Why? Simple survival. If you miss the best berries you may well have another opportunity to find some more, but if you miss the tiger there are no more chances, so we learnt to focus on the hazards in life rather than the pleasures. We take the good things for granted – that’s what we expect each day – but spend our thinking time ruminating over how to avoid the bad. Real or imagined.
How many times have you watched a program or film and then spent nights lying awake planning how you would save your family from the fire / intruder / flood / alien invasion etc.? Once the thought is in there it’s stuck, unless we make a conscious decision to replace it. So once we have worked out our escape plan, we need to put that thought to one side, trust that we can pull it back out if we need it, and focus on some pleasant aspects of being alive. The irony is, how ever many nights we lay awake planning, we rarely see what actually ends up happening. I mean, how many of us foresaw this? I have plans stored away for just about every scenario I have ever witnessed in a film, read in a book or heard in a play, but because the plague just seemed so unlikely, I didn’t plan for that one.
Other useful tips:
Learn some deep breathing techniques: these not only reduce anxiety by lowering heart rate and blood pressure as they down regulate the sympathetic nervous system response, but they also help to keep your lungs clear of toxin build up and boost your immune system. We will be practicing these this week in class and on Facebook Live.
And check out the link below from Mindful.org for more useful tips:
However you spend the next few weeks I wish you well.
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