CORONAVIRUS

Focus on what you’re gaining, not losing

QUIETER ROADS: The lockdown has seen traffic disappear from our roads, like Bury Old Road in Manchester

SENIOR psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire Sandi Mann has called on the public to “focus on the positives” as a way of combating mental health issues during lockdown.

The Jewish Action for Mental Health chairman said: “We really, really need to focus on the good stuff and look for pleasure in our lives.

“We need to keep a journal or make a note of what has given us pleasure during the day. It could be a nice cup of coffee, a walk or a Zoom meeting.

“People are talking about not being able to connect with others, but actually, we are connecting with people more than ever before.

“The internet and lockdown has given people more time to connect and we are now closer with people than ever before.

“There are actually a lot of positives around and it’s about trying to focus on what you’re gaining, not what you’re losing.”

According to the World Health Organisation, in public mental health terms, the main psychological impact to date is elevated rates of stress or anxiety.

But as new measures and impacts are introduced —especially quarantine and its effects on many people’s usual activities, routines or livelihoods — levels of loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug use, and self-harm or suicidal behaviour are also expected to rise.

In populations already heavily affected, such as Lombardy in Italy, issues of service access and continuity for people with developing or existing mental health conditions are also now a major concern, along with the mental health and well-being of frontline workers.

There has been talk among experts of an echo pandemic, focused around mental health, where, once the coronavirus pandemic ends, what we once knew as normal will no longer exist.

Dr Mann said: “I personally, do not want to go back to how we once were.

“We now have so many benefits, that we want to keep those and lose the negatives.

“We want to look at the positives, and keep those, such as the new sense of community, things being done via Zoom, not having to commute, quieter roads etc.

“It’s about building a new world. This is a great importunity to do and see things differently.

“We’re in a mourning process — we’re grieving what we’ve lost, that we thought we would get back again, but we aren’t and it’s a new reality.

“But we can still do other things, and there are more things that we can do now that we couldn’t do before.

“It’s about not focusing on the loss, but focusing on the gains.”

There also appears to be an age-divide on how people are coping.

The younger you are, the more likely you are to embrace lockdown — as proven by interviews elsewhere on these pages.

And this is something Dr Mann agrees with.

“A lot of my clients, who are student age, are just not bothered,” she said.

“They are already used to talking to people virtually, and they are not scared and think they aren’t at risk.

“They are more in-tune with the virtual and electronic world, and maybe they are also more adaptable.

“But, I know that parents with young children are really struggling.

“We’ve learned that they are one of the more severely affected groups, who tend to be missed a little bit because they aren’t lonely, have food and can get out in some form.”

Details: JAMH.org.uk

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