Covid-induced physical discomforts, economic turmoil, social challenges, and other aspects have gained widespread attention. But mental health concerns still elude everyone’s consideration despite being an ongoing crisis. The pandemic has brought people to the verge of their emotional and mental tipping point. Studies also show that mental health is the next biggest concern after the war with COVID-19 as psychological issues will be rampant. And the challenge is there is still a lack of proper infrastructure to handle the tsunami of such cases caused by lower cognitive wellness. If appropriate measures don’t occur, the country would soon suffer from declining productivity and grave economic situations.
Since the pandemic has exposed people to an undue amount of stress and anxiety, causing unnecessary worries in their minds about contracting infection, they have become emotionally vulnerable too. However, the good news is people in mental distress can turn to support or self-help groups for improvement. Equipped with psychologists, mental health workers, and social workers, these groups aim at a collective healing process.
William D King: A ray of hope for patients with covid-induced mental health problems
The importance of group therapy
You can find self-help groups and participate in their activities based on your preference. Generally, these places offer group therapy involving more than one patient per therapy session. The size of the group can vary by theme. For example, some of them can run couple therapy for romantic partners. So, it can essentially consist of two people. Then, some can focus on covid-led mental health and substance use disorder. In that case, there can be 10 to 12 people in a session.
According to the US-based psychological association, a group therapy encouraging participation from 6 to 12 people can be pretty beneficial. Having more people around you with similar interests and challenges doesn’t make you feel lonely. The principle of universality drives a sense of comfort and ease, says William D King. You don’t experience this in individual sessions.
Other resources for help with mental health conditions aggravated by covid
If you don’t find group therapies or self-help services helpful, you can try other options. Do you read news about infection and death rates frequently? You can stop doing it. Or at least control the consumption of such pieces of news. Reading too much negative information can impact your brain and cause depression, anxiety, and other such issues. Plus, it can disturb your sleep. Since it can be challenging to remove yourself from this totally, you need to allot specific time to this activity. Simultaneously, practicing yoga and meditation can prove impactful.
Sometimes you may not realize why you behave in a certain way under stress or anxiety. Or you may not even know that you are feeling stressed and try to do things normally. It can pile up your stress levels as you don’t realize what is going on inside. That’s why it is critical to update your awareness about mental health and practical measures so that you can take adequate steps at the right time. If you know your problem, you won’t delay treatment, and your chances of recovery will also become better.