The study highlights some of the warning signs of burnout and suggests that people who tend to be perfectionists are more likely to veer into burnout due to their own ‘unrelenting standards’.

What is burnout?

With the worries accompanying pandemic lockdowns, the pressures of inflation and other life stressors, many people are feeling at the end of their tether.

For some people, the cumulative effect of these prolonged periods of stress can result in burnout.

Unlike normal tiredness, the experts suggest burnout symptoms include constant exhaustion, emotional numbness and confusion at home or in the workplace.

Some conventional tools used to diagnose burnout focus on work-related stress, however mental health expert and lead author Professor Gordon Parker suggests that the impact is much more extensive.

Professor Parker said: “Most people consider burnout to be extreme tiredness, but in our studies we have found that the symptoms are much more wide-ranging.

“People struggling with burnout also suffer from cognitive dysfunction, sometimes known as ‘brain fog’ and disconnection from their friends and family, as well as the more typically-recognised reduced performance in work and tasks around the home.”

Who is most likely to burn out?

Burnout is widespread among high achievers in the workplace – but is becoming increasingly more prevalent in personal lives.

Professor Parker said: “Most people think that burnout is a work problem. Actually, we found that stress experienced at work or at home can set the wheels of burnout in motion.

“Our analyses indicated that burnout may also develop as a result of predisposing personality traits, especially perfectionism.

“People with perfectionistic traits are usually excellent workers, as they’re extremely reliable and conscientious. However, they’re also prone to burnout as they set unrealistic and unrelenting standards for their own performance, which are ultimately impossible to live up to.”

What can be done about it?

Professor Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which conducts research into mood disorders and works to remove the social stigmas around mental illness.

During his extensive research on burnout, and with decades of clinical work under his belt, he has determined how to best identify and manage it.

This research is outlined in a recently published book – Burnout: A Guide to Identifying Burnout and Pathways to Recovery.

Critically, the book offers a guide for navigating out of burnout, including identifying sources and coping strategies to minimise the impact of stress.

It contains new evidence-based tools for readers to work out for themselves whether they have burnout and generate a plan for recovery based on their personal situation.

Chapters help readers recognise their own burnout patterns and provide approaches to help them regain their passions and build their resilience.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Burnout: A Guide to Identifying Burnout and Pathways to Recovery

By Gordon Parker, Gabriela Tavella, Kerrie Eyers

Published December 30, 2022  

252 Pages

Paperback: 9781032358963 | $24.95 | £18.99 

Hardback: 9781032367729 | $160.00 | £120.00 

eBook: 9781003333722| $24.95 | £18.99 

About The Author 

Professor Gordon Parker, AO, is a clinical psychiatrist and Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He previously headed university and hospital departments and was founder of the Black Dog Institute. He was the recipient of the Australian Mental Health Prize in 2020.

Gabriela Tavella is a research officer at University of New South Wales and is completing a PhD on burnout.

Kerrie Eyers, AM, is a psychologist and writer.

There are strategies that can help people manage those negative emotions — such as distracting oneself from political news — but those same strategies also reduce people’s drive to act on political causes they care about, the research found.

“When it comes to politics, there can be a trade-off between feeling good and doing good,” said Brett Q. Ford, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “Protecting oneself from the stress of politics might help promote well-being but it also comes at a cost to staying engaged and active in democracy.”

The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Previous research and polling data have found that politics can be a major stressor in people’s lives, according to the researchers. However, most of that research has focused on major political events such as presidential elections. Ford and her colleagues wanted to explore the emotional and mental health effects of everyday political news and how people use different strategies to manage those negative emotions.

“Politics isn’t just something that affects people every four years during election season — it seems to seep into daily life. But we just don’t know much about the day-to-day impact politics might have,” Ford said.

To learn more, she and her colleagues began by asking a politically diverse sample of 198 Americans to answer a series of questions each night for two weeks about the political event they thought about most that day, the emotions they felt in response, how they managed those emotions, their general psychological and physical well-being that day, and how motivated they felt to engage in political action.

Overall, the researchers found that thinking about daily political events evoked negative emotions in participants — even though the survey question had not asked participants to think of negative political events. Participants who experienced more politics-related negative emotions reported worse day-to-day psychological and physical health on average — but they also reported greater motivation to act on political causes by doing things such as volunteering or donating money to political campaigns.

The survey also asked participants about several strategies they might have used to manage their negative emotions, including distracting themselves from the news and “cognitive reappraisal,” or reframing how they thought about a news event to make it seem less negative. Participants who successfully used these strategies to manage their negative emotions reported better daily well-being, but also less motivation to take political action.

Next, the researchers replicated these results over three weeks with a larger group of 811 participants that included not only Democrats and Republicans but also people affiliated with a different political party or no party.  

In a second set of experiments, Ford and her colleagues asked participants to watch political news clips from the highest-rated liberal and conservative-leaning news shows rather than simply asking them to report on politics they had encountered. In these experiments, participants watched a clip from either the Rachel Maddow Show (for liberal participants) or Tucker Carlson Tonight (for conservative participants). In a first experiment, the researchers found that participants who watched the political clip experienced more negative emotions than those who watched a neutral, non-political news clip, and reported more motivation to volunteer for political causes or take other political action. The effect held true for participants across political parties.

In a final experiment, the researchers asked participants to try out several different emotion regulation strategies as they watched the clips — distraction, cognitive reappraisal or acceptance of their negative feelings. Replicating the results from the diary studies, the researchers found two of the strategies, distraction and cognitive reappraisal, consistently reduced participants’ negative emotions which in turn predicted better well-being, but indirectly reduced the likelihood that they would want to take political action.

Overall, the results suggest that politics have a significant daily effect on many Americans’ health and well-being, according to the authors.

“Modern politics — its daily controversies, incivility and ineptitude — puts a regular emotional burden on Americans,” said Matthew Feinberg, PhD, a coauthor of the paper and professor of organizational behavior at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

This has important implications, particularly for activists who wish to get people involved in advocating for political causes without harming their mental health, according to the researchers.

“In a way, this is a trade-off between individual wellness and collective wellness,” Ford said. “We are working toward identifying strategies that people can use to protect their own well-being without coming with costs to the broader collective. This paper begins to address this by studying emotional acceptance — a strategy that is linked with greater well-being for individuals in daily life, and which doesn’t seem to come with consistent costs to collective action. It is important that people have a variety of tools they can use to manage the chronic stress of day-to-day politics while also maintaining the motivation to engage with politics when needed.”

Further research should examine the effects of politics on well-being in different countries, the researchers suggest. “The U.S. faces high levels of political polarization in a largely two-party system and a media often revolving around inciting moral outrage,” Feinberg said. “It would be interesting to see the extent to which daily politics would affect citizens from in other countries that are less polarized or with different political systems.”

Article: “The Political is Personal: The Costs of Daily Politics,” by Brett Q. Ford, PhD, Matthew Feinberg, PhD, and Bethany Lassetter, PhD, and Arasteh Gatchpazian, University of Toronto, and Sabrina Thai, PhD, Brock University. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published online Jan. 19, 2023.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it is caused by a group of disorders that gradually damage the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes. This damage causes changes in thinking and behaviors. Symptoms can include unusual behaviors, emotional problems, trouble communicating, challenges with work, and difficulty with walking.

There is no way to slow down or prevent FTD, but there are ways to help manage the symptoms, like maintaining a schedule, decreasing distractions, and changing the environment to help with behavioral issues. Other movement-related disorders include frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism and frontotemporal dementia with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS). Symptoms can vary among these movement disorders.

The underlying causes of frontotemporal dementia are not yet fully understood. People with FTD have abnormal amounts or forms of proteins called tau and TDP-43 inside nerve cells, or neurons, in their brain. The neurons die because the buildup of these proteins causes damage. In some. Learn more about how to help manage FTD symptoms.

There are several disorders that can result in frontotemporal dementia, all of which can affect middle-aged and older adults. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is the most common frontotemporal disorder. It causes changes in personality, behavior, emotions, and judgment.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) involves changes in the ability to communicate — to speak, read, write, and understand what others are saying. Movement disorders happen when the parts of the brain that control movement are affected. There are two types of rare movement disorders associated with FTD: corticobasal syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy. Other movement-related disorders include frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism and frontotemporal dementia with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS). Symptoms can vary among these movement disorders.

The signs and symptoms of frontotemporal dementia vary from person to person and the order in which they appear can also vary. Changes in the frontal lobe of the brain are generally associated with behavioral symptoms and may also lead to movement symptoms.

Changes in the temporal lobe generally lead to disorders of language and emotion. Symptoms of frontotemporal dementia and associated disorders may include: Decreased energy and motivation Lack of interest in others Inappropriate and impulsive behaviors Not acting considerate of others Repeating an activity or word over and over again.

 Changes in food preferences and compulsive eating Increased interest in sex.

Neglect of personal hygiene Emotional flatness or excessive emotions

Difficulty making or understanding speech Inability to make common motions, such as using a fork Problems with balance and walking Increased clumsiness

Slow movement, falling, body stiffness

Restricted eye movements Shaky hands Muscle weakness and loss, fine jerks, wiggling in muscles.

There is no cure for frontotemporal dementia and no way to slow down or prevent it. However, the NIH says there are ways to help manage symptoms:

Maintain a schedule, decrease distractions, and change the environment to help with behavioral issues. For example, if compulsive eating is an issue, consider limiting food choices, locking cabinets and the refrigerator, and distracting the person with other activities.

Try to recognize it’s the illness “talking” and accept rather than challenge people with behavioral symptoms. Arguing or reasoning will not help because they cannot control their behaviors or even see that they are unusual or upsetting to others.

Limit choices and offer specific choices, such as “Do you want to go to the park or for a walk?” rather than, “What do you want to do today?”

If you become frustrated, take a timeout — take deep breaths, count to 10, or leave the room for a few minutes.

To help with language issues, speak slowly and clearly, use simple sentences, wait for responses, and ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. An album of labeled photos of people and objects, gestures, and drawing may help communicate without talking. A speech-language pathologist can determine the best tools and strategies for a particular person.

Medications, such as antidepressants and antipsychotics, may help treat certain behavioral symptoms. There are also medications that may help with movement problems, and physical and occupational therapy may provide some relief.

Support groups can also be a valuable resource for people with frontotemporal dementias and their caregivers, allowing them to share experiences and tips with others who may be in the same situation. Nonprofit organizations and community organizations may provide online or in-person support groups.

If you have a family history or are concerned about symptoms of frontotemporal dementia, talk with your doctor. If you or someone you know has recently been diagnosed, explore the resources on this website and linked below to find out more about the disease, care, support, and research.

For more information, click here to visit the website of the National Institute on Aging.

The National Institutes of Health  has resources on their website that may help, including fact sheets on stress, depression, and anxiety. You can also find helpful brochures and fact sheets on the National Institute of Mental Health website.

 If you (or someone you know or care about) are in immediate distress you can call, text, or chat the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which is now active across the United States.

988 is a new, shorter phone number that will make it easier for people to get mental health crisis services. The old number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), still works, and it will continue to function indefinitely. 

Get more info on mental health here.

At some point in our life, most of us have to learn to cope with the loss of a loved one. Companions on the grief journey—especially for the first few years after loss—make a huge difference. Sadly, most of us don’t know what to say to a friend who is grieving, or what we can do to help. 

National Grief Awareness Day, this Friday, August 30^th, shines a light on grief, and the ongoing need for support after losing a loved one. If you have a friend who is grieving here are six things to keep in mind: 

1. Grief is not something you ‘get over’— it’s something you get through by learning to live ‘with’ the loss. 
2. There’s no time limit on grief!
3. Grief is a normal, natural reaction to loss that can cause overwhelming and confusing emotions including disbelief, anguish, anger, sorrow, fear, guilt, relief, hopelessness, and helplessness. 
4. Grief impacts every aspect of your life: intellectual, physical, spiritual, social, and creative, as well as emotional. Widows are usually impacted financially as well.
5. Most people who are grieving need support for far, far longer than their friends and family realize. 
6. Grief does not follow a linear timeframe. It comes in waves, and is often triggered by a song, aroma, place or memory, even years after the loss.  

Here are five things you can do to help a grieving friend.

1. Realize that you can’t fix this. There isn’t anything you can say or do to bring back the person who died. All you can do is accompany your friend on their grief journey. 
2. Don’t worry about finding “the right words”. Simply saying “I’m so sorry for your loss” and giving a hug can bring great comfort.
3. Create a safe space for your friend to share what’s in their heart. Listen. Don’t judge. Invite your friend to talk about their loss and how it makes them feel, and quietly hand them tissues if they start to cry.
4. Talk about the person who died and don’t be afraid to say their name—it’s music to the ears of their loved one.
5. Remember special dates: Birthdays (both of the person who died and the person you are supporting), anniversaries and holidays are often grief triggers. Put these dates and the date of death– in your calendar so you can call, text, or send a card. It will make more of a difference than you can possibly imagine.

Joanne Fink is an award-winning designer, calligrapher, and best-selling author with more than a million books in print. Her personal memoir, When You Lose Someone You Love, published by Companion House Press, brings comfort hope and healing to the bereaved. Joanne’s next book, My Spiritual Journey, a guided journal for spiritual seekers, will be available later this year (Quiet Fox Designs). It is currently available for pre-order. Learn more about Joanne’s books and journey at www.WhenYouLoseSomeone.comand www.zenspirations.com.

They can collaborate with their mind and change the way they are feeling, as the sciences are teaching us. What they found was they could, indeed, address their own sense of being alone and make their days fill with well-being and even happiness.

I thought I would share those eight ways.

1. You can manage your mind. If you visualize each day as one filled with purpose and meaning, you will find that the act of being alone or distant from those you care about becomes less important. With a little practice, you really can train your mind to believe that it is happy without others. Seriously, collaborate with your mind. It will do exactly what it thinks you want it to do.
2. Exercise is especially important. It’s an essential part of a healthy mind, body, spirit. Find a ritual every day that gets you up, walking, working out, biking…anything that is not sitting in a chair.
3. Plan weekends where you are at public spaces. Visit a park, a hiking trail or a playground, and talk to other people. Wear your mask and introduce yourself. You will find that you and they will feel less lonely. I did a podcast once with a woman who was always on the airplane working in all kinds of places—much as I had been. She used to walk in the parks just to create the feeling that she was not alone. Neither of us were ever really alone, but we were often lonely. The walks always quieted our minds and engaged our spirits in healthy feelings.
4. If you like to Zoom, set up a time with friends on a regular basis for tea or a cocktail hour. You will find that the week flies by as you look forward to the gathering, and the time spent together is priceless. Even with family, family Zoom time becomes remarkably sacred. It has in our home. But our friends are also happily Zooming in and we are all talking longer and deeper than we might ever in a restaurant.
5. If you are a Facebook person, join some new groups. In these groups you  can share insights, things you have learned or want to know about, or possibly new career paths you want to explore. Our Rethink with Andi Simon group has been growing beautifully with professional women from across the globe who want to help other women become the “best they can be.” Sharing has become a gift for each of them.
6. Book groups are terrific on Zoom. Book clubs, where you can join others and discuss hot books together, are booming for good reason. If you have not joined one, find a theme that might reflect your own interests and see what you can do to get involved. Here is a link to some that are open for you to join.
7. Tutor someone. Find ways to identify young people who would like a tutor for math or science or geology or anything that is your area of expertise. Sharing is an immensely powerful antidote for loneliness. The gift of giving will make your loneliness go away as acts of gratitude will make you feel purposeful and positive.
8. Cook! Make something (for others or maybe just yourself) and sit and eat it slowly. Savor each bite and enjoy all the different flavors and tastes.

If you have some ideas that are working for you, please send them along and we will share them. Our email is info@andisimon.com

COVID-19 may have kept people apart in 2020, but with a little ingenuity and effort, we can find ways to connect – with ourselves and with others.

Andi Simon, Ph.D. (www.andisimon.com), author of the upcoming book Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, is a corporate anthropologist and founder of Simon Associates Management Consultants (www.simonassociates.net). A trained practitioner in Blue Ocean Strategy®, Simon has conducted several hundred workshops and speeches on the topic as well as consulted with a wide range of clients across the globe. She also is the author of the award-winning book On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights. Simon has a successful podcast, On the Brink with Andi Simon, that has more than 125,000 monthly listeners, and is ranked among the top 20 Futurist podcasts and top 200 business podcasts. In addition, Global Advisory Experts named Simons’ firm the Corporate Anthropology Consultancy Firm of the Year in New York – 2020. She has been on Good Morning, America and Bloomberg, and is widely published in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Business Week, Becker’s, and American Banker, among others. She has been a guest blogger for Forbes.com, Huffington Post, and Fierce Health.

The bottom line is that we may be seniors, but we are far from passive. And as seniors, we not only have the benefit of hindsight and experience, but there is so much to participate in and so many new ways to participate. We may be staying home more than before, but we can still be involved in the causes that we believe in — improving child and family well-being, making this country more equitable, and pushing for systemic changes in health care, social justice and the health of the planet. And there’s one more job we’re tasked with as the “older generation,” and that’s enabling younger people to see and understand the specific advantages and challenges of aging, not just for their parents and grandparents, but, if they are fortunate, for themselves.

The nature of happiness today for seniors depends on being active and involved — and taking heart in what’s happening in the world where we can. How? Try these four ways:

Look at the bookend generations for inspiration.

One of the most inspiring things I see these days is what’s happening around today’s protests. They reflect a growing communication and understanding across gender, racial, and generational lines — and involve the youngest as well as the oldest generations. I have great faith in the power of these bookend generations.

The young are not only accepting of each other’s differences, they embrace them. We seniors are evolving, learning to reject the biases we were taught. When you bring these generations together, it’s a profound combination with countless opportunities for learning. Seniors benefit from younger perspectives, and younger generations benefit from the experience of seniors — whether by finding positive directions or seeing how wrong things have gone. We learn so much from acknowledging each other’s experience.

Celebrate your growing wisdom.

I’m often asked whether in this society, being an elder has more positives than negatives. In my mind, the answer is a resounding yes. I think we gain so much over the years. We may not all be as physically capable as we once were, but think of it this way: As our ability to read all the letters on the optometrist’s vision chart gets worse, our inner vision gets better. We gain more insight and we develop more of a sense of clarity instead. We’re able to see ourselves and envision the big pictures in society more clearly. Our eyes may not improve, but our ability to truly see the world does.

Revitalize by becoming more active and connected.

Getting active and increasing your connection with the world can give seniors a new sense of vitality and purpose. As we hit our 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond, we can tap into our own experience and realize we have so much to contribute. And becoming involved is a wonderful reminder that we don’t stop growing when we’re young: we continue to grow and learn well beyond our youth and middle age. If you’re looking for ways to engage, start by just listening. Read. Google. Follow your curiosity where it leads.

Branch out to meet new people (even virtually).

It’s a myth (and a sad one) that we get more conservative as we get older, lose interest in the outside world, and are less inclined to want to meet others. Actually, most of the men and women I meet who have reached seniority are engaged and active citizens and love meeting new people. They’re not only concerned about the world, they find that being involved in causes and activities beyond themselves, and meeting and working with new people, takes their minds off any age-related physically challenges and overcomes a sense of isolation. Intergenerational friendships bring a sense of mutual respect and can remind us that we bring a lot to the table.

Getting involved and reaching out to form new friendships right now takes a new kind of time, effort and intention. For many of us, we are learning how to cultivate rich and active lives online and on social media. But it’s well worth the effort, as is opening up to the experience of other generations. Staying closed-off is a losing proposition. But cultivating a sense of curiosity and gratitude can help change not only our own lives, but the world. There are so many ways to keep from becoming invisible as we grow older — including living in the current world, not outside it, or in the past. Of course, brighter lipstick can help too (hint: that’s a great Zoom trick). But be open, reach out, and look forward to a time of more peace, more justice, and more life.

Thelma Reese, Ed.D. is the author of The New Senior Woman and The New Senior Man and creator of the blog, www.ElderChicks.com. She’s a retired professor of English and Education, the former spokesperson for Hooked on Phonics, and has long been active in national and Philadelphia-based educational and cultural initiatives. She is the author, with BJ Kittredge, of the new book, How Seniors Are Saving the World: Retirement Activism to the Rescue!

Whether you are on state or locally mandated quarantine or a self-directed quarantine — it’s safe to say that nowadays, we’re spending a lot of downtime in our homes and with ourselves for an extended period of time. With so much rapid change happening in the news cycle, industries coming to a halt, jobs being either cut, scaled back, or shifted to remote status, uncertainty in the external is at an extremely high vibration.

This is leaving many with a surge of energy that is very likely soaring in multiple directions at once, leaving our emotional and mental health in an entirely new state. On a basic level, some would describe this as feelings of stir crazy, restlessness, boredom, and many more familiar emotions or feelings related to the now.

As a coach, I view it as my responsibility to continue to remain front row for women as they make strides in better understanding themselves, reclaiming power (and energy) in their lives, and brings what matters most to them to the forefront.

Here are some tips and homework items on how to keep your energy and mental health in check during quarantine:

1. Know that you are in control —and let go of the rest

You can’t control what’s going on around you, but you can control your thoughts, actions, and choices: keep up your hygiene, choose where you interact, take preventative measures, etc. From there, recognize that other things are out of your hands and worrying about that will not serve you. Your worrying will actually cause stress, which we know has negative effects on immunity. ⁣

Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including social media. Hearing about the pandemic repeatedly can be upsetting.

Focus on the things that are in your control and that will be constructive for your energy.

Homework: List five things that you are in control of. Suggested categories are: health/wellness, personal growth, personal environment, etc. ( Ex: “I am in control of my health because I am making a point to eat clean during quarantine”)

2. Know that you ALWAYS have a choice
   

   As you move forward in your day, week, career, etc. take stock in the choices that you get to

make — to not let frustration or adversity define you. A large part of my coaching is helping others identify, and celebrate those choices. We must own our “gremlins” (a term I use in my coaching practice for “limiting beliefs”) that may be in the way or even prevent you from doing the things you care about.

Remember that you have the choice to push past the discomfort, know that you won’t be perfect, learn from your mistakes and always just go for it.

The world needs what you have to offer.

Homework: List three things you have already subconsciously made choices around. Use an “I” statement. (Ex: “I chose to not allow imposter syndrome to get in the way of asking for a promotion that I deserved”)

3. Set realistic goals

Remember those New Year’s Resolutions? Well, this is a great time to revisit, replace, and reset your resolutions and goals. For example, if you’ve barely hit the gym, then saying you’re going to go 5 times a week isn’t realistic. Take the time to really assess what’s going to be realistic and attainable for you.

Remember: any action, no matter how big or small means you’re going in the right direction and are closer to your goal than you were before.

Homework: Revisit your goals to ensure they are realistic and attainable. Think about what will serve your energy.

Neha O’Rourke is an award-winning Career Coach and Founder of Somewhere In Between Coaching, a coaching company that empowers women around the country and across industries in designing a career and life they love. Since founding Somewhere In Between, Neha has served hundreds of women in avoiding career burnout through her signature 1:1 career coaching programs, research-based blog series, and public appearances.

She was recently named “20 on the Rise” in the coaching category by Honeybook and Rising Tide Society. Her work has been featured in The Chic, Yoga Digest, and Fox 32.

So many of us right now may be asking ourselves “Am I in need of a therapist?” How can we tell when it is time to find a professional to help us process the things we are going through? Here are five signs you may benefit from working through some of your stress and anxieties with a therapist:

You are indulging is high-risk coping conduct.

You are not abnormal if you develop coping mechanisms that are not always the healthiest. Many people struggle to find healthy and productive ways to unravel their issues, and this doesn’t mean they are bad people, or that their stress cannot be soothed. If you find yourself masking or ignoring your core issues by medicating with sex, drugs, alcohol or other behaviors that put you or people you love in harm’s way, you may find that therapy can provide tools for you to help with pivoting your experience in a more positive direction.

Any time you attempt to “escape” your problems with substances, or momentary pleasures, you are just temporarily forgetting about them. But our issues have a way of resurfacing until we deal with them and find a more hopeful approach to life.

You are sleeping too little or too much.

Grief and depression can often sink someone into a mental space where the thought of getting out of bed, working, or even enjoying themselves is a farfetched concept. For other people, stress, anxiety, and emotional turmoil can manifest in the other extreme of the spectrum. These people cannot fall asleep. They tuck themselves in only to find their mind active into late hours of the night revisiting issues repeatedly. So they get up and start cleaning, working, or distracting themselves on their phones for hours into the next morning. Again, oversleeping or distracting ourselves so far that we don’t sleep at all are coping strategies that we must observe and work through. Therapy can help you better understand your thoughts as well as the reasons why sleep has become such an issue. Through therapy, you can address the core situation, helping you relieve yourself of side effects that could be caused by too much sleep or too little rest.

Most of your mental energy goes into focusing on your flaws.

2020 is difficult enough without you constantly counting your shortcomings. If your moments of thought are saturated with self-doubt, remorse, and self-disparagement, therapy can help you navigate some of the things that you have not had an opportunity to work through. Perhaps you find yourself drifting off into negative thoughts and self-disparaging inner monologues, and this can be a sign that you’ve fallen into a cycle of self-defeating consciousness. A therapist can listen to your perception of yourself and talk through some of the ways in which you can break this cycle of what can often become self-sabotage.

You are physically manifesting the turmoil you feel inside.

If you find that you are a healthy person but have fallen into feeling physically fatigued, faint, and or experience stomach aches, twitches, or trembles when certain situations or topics arise, you can benefit from speaking to a therapist. Therapists screen patients to see if perhaps there are signs of chemical imbalances that may be causing these physical reactions and sensations. It is important once you make the decision to start therapy that you are honest with your doctor about the physical manifestation you are experiencing. A good therapist will ask purposeful questions as part of your onboarding that helps in assessing some of these occurrences. 

You are overwhelmed enough that you neglect your duties or loved ones.  

The human mind has a finite supply of energy, and the weight of our issues can lead us to neglect things we know we are capable of accomplishing. This can wear down your stamina, your effectiveness, and your ability to focus. You can find yourself preoccupied to the extent that you become forgetful and nervous. This can affect your work, your family, and your goals. A therapist can help you find ways of centering yourself and process the things that are crowding your thoughts. With as stressful a year as 2020 has been, our minds can easily be overwhelmed with concern for the economy, issues pertaining to social justice, health-risks and pandemic, and the state of the environment, to name a few.

Why is there such a stigma about realizing you could benefit from consulting a therapist?  

We are living through some of the most stressful times in modern history. Self-care and mental health go hand in hand and right now our psychological state is under pressure not just because of problems in our personal lives, but also with the current state of the world. It isn’t the time to keep yourself from something you think you may benefit from, such as therapy, because of stigma. There is a perception that going to therapy means that you’re weak or crazy, but I flip this notion by saying that having the determination to deal with your issues instead of letting stress overwhelm you is a brave thing to do. Seeking therapy is a self-loving action to take.

Dr. Sanam Hafeez PsyD is an NYC based licensed clinical psychologist, teaching faculty member at the prestigious Columbia University Teacher’s College and the founder and Clinical Director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services, P.C. a neuropsychological, developmental and educational center in Manhattan and Queens. 

Dr. Hafeez masterfully applies her years of experience connecting psychological implications to address some of today’s common issues such as body image, social media addiction, relationships, workplace stress, parenting and psychopathology (bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc.). In addition, Dr. Hafeez works with individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), learning disabilities, attention and memory problems, and abuse. Dr. Hafeez often shares her credible expertise to various news outlets in New York City and frequently appears on CNN and Dr.Oz.

Connect with her via Instagram @drsanamhafeez or www.comprehendthemind.com

Many of the therapies I cover in my book can also be practiced at home, remotely or by video link, so here are a few ideas to get you started. We know about telemedicine but how about teletherapy?

(Note: Where necessary check out the credentials and qualifications of the therapists you contact – if they are listed on the registers of one of the US organizations that train and provide certification to a high standard, you should be on safe ground.)

1. Counseling/psychotherapy

You can have someone professional to talk to if you are feeling anxious or uptight. Thankfully most qualified counsellors offer phone sessions, and you can decide to have video as well as audio if you need the closer interaction and connection that seeing each other provides.

2. Yoga

There are many classes online of course, but the good news is that there are a growing number of classes that are now being live-streamed straight into people’s homes – which is very useful if you want to practice, need the motivation of others in group, but can’t be together the way you usually do because we need to distance from each other.

Classes are done remotely, so you can be comfortable at home listening to the yoga teacher and following their instructions and movements. And it’s even possible to have two-way interaction if you switch on your video, allowing the instructor to provide individual feedback to you on your position or breathing for example. Some of the new entrants to the market include “Yogaia”, which runs live and interactive online yoga sessions with two way communications in a number of countries including the US.

And of course there are lots of free videos on yoga to keep you going. Try out different teachers and styles and find the one for you.

3. Guided meditations

Group meditations like those of Eckhart Tolle are increasingly being streamed live to audiences via video link. I think this idea of “live event” meditation/spiritual calming is important for today’s stressful lifestyle. Large groups engaging in meditation is a very powerful therapy, and especially beneficial when you are having to socially isolate from others.

4. DIY Therapies

These can allow you to give yourself some space to think positively.

There are so many therapies you can learn about and practice on your own at home. The simple act of learning some new therapy is good for taking your mind away from worries and the constant draw of the latest depressing news headline on Covid-19 on tv/social media. Try finding out about Numerology, Power Animal readings or Positive Affirmation cards. You can do it all online.

4. Sonic Therapy

Try it yourself. Lie down and listen (for at least 20 minutes) to gongs and chimes that are calming and therapeutic, or watch professional musicians live online streaming “gong baths” to enthusiasts.

5. Creative writing therapy

Get your ideas, your fears, and your experiences down on paper. It’s therapeutic and helps bring some order to the chaos outside.

Or why not create your own Visualization board of images for your future when this difficult time is over.

This time will pass but in the meantime, there are things we can do to support our own mental health and help us see our way through.

Kay Hutchison is the author of My Life In Thirty Seven Therapies: From Yoga To Hypnosis and Why Voodoo is Never the Answer (UK Belle Media print version & US audio release, spring 2020). She is a content creator with extensive experience in radio, television and publishing. After gaining her BMus and MA in music at Glasgow University, she joined Decca Records in London and then BBC Radio as a Producer. Kay moved across to television with Channel 4 and went on to lead the launch teams for Disney TV and Channel Five. In the build-up to the 2012 London Olympics, she successfully led the legacy partnership that delivered a long-term future for the multi-million-pound Olympics Broadcast Centre. Kay founded her own company, Belle Media and launched Belle Kids in 2015, producing multi-platform, conservation-focused content for children.