{"id":12132,"date":"2020-05-14T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=12132"},"modified":"2020-05-09T09:50:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T13:50:04","slug":"help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html","title":{"rendered":"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-12150\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" \/>What happens when social institutions like schools and colleges, restaurants, gyms and churches close? We are home and isolated, impacting our mental health. Some groups suffer more than others. Calls to mental health hotlines are on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>iGen and Millennials are being hit hard. Many have lost they jobs and have little financial fallback. The social distancing and isolation has exacerbated already high rates of depression among this age group (18-44). Loneliness and anxiety about the future are real concerns. \u00a0&#8220;Real&#8221; versus on-line friends are needed to provide the social support so important to good mental health. And then there is the stress over their parents&#8217; health and trying to convince them to stay inside. They worry their parents will be infected. \u00a0To cope, many are using food and alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>What helps?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stick to a routine just like you did when you were in your work office. Shower, get up at the same time and structure your day.<\/li>\n<li>Add exercise to your day. One good thing about working from home is that you can take frequent breaks and move. Add a daily walk during your lunch hour. Go outside into the sunshine to soak in some Vitamin D. It helps with stress.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on what you can control. Wash your hands, limit non-essential travel, stop touching your face, eat well and get sleep.<\/li>\n<li>Use this time to develop positive coping skills like biblical meditation, prayer, relaxation methods, humor, connection and support.<\/li>\n<li>Shift your focus to positive things. Stop the worry. Instead, concentrate on what might be good about this time, e.g., more self-awareness, developing better habits, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Make a gratitude list everyday. Doing this changes your brain for the better.<\/li>\n<li>Review your financials. It may be time to rethink how you have been spending your money.<\/li>\n<li>Deepen your social connections. Reach out to friends and have actual conversations; you know, face to face interactions over social platforms.<\/li>\n<li>Turn off the news if it creates anxiety.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you need more professional help, don&#8217;t hesitate to use resources like\u00a0Text the Crisis Text Line (741747) or \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.samhsa.gov\/find-help\/national-helpline\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" data-analytics-post-depth=\"100\">Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration<\/a> (1-800-662-4357), and <a href=\"https:\/\/suicidepreventionlifeline.org\/\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" data-analytics-post-depth=\"100\">The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline<\/a> (1-800-273-8255) are available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when social institutions like schools and colleges, restaurants, gyms and churches close? We are home and isolated, impacting our mental health. Some groups suffer more than others. Calls to mental health hotlines are on the rise. iGen and Millennials are being hit hard. Many have lost they jobs and have little financial fallback.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914,917],"tags":[4794,13,4800,4797],"class_list":["post-12132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","category-friend-relationships","tag-covid-19-and-mental-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-help","tag-pandemic-and-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happens when social institutions like schools and colleges, restaurants, gyms and churches close? We are home and isolated, impacting our mental health. Some groups suffer more than others. Calls to mental health hotlines are on the rise. iGen and Millennials are being hit hard. Many have lost they jobs and have little financial fallback.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-14T10:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-09T13:50:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health","og_description":"What happens when social institutions like schools and colleges, restaurants, gyms and churches close? We are home and isolated, impacting our mental health. Some groups suffer more than others. Calls to mental health hotlines are on the rise. iGen and Millennials are being hit hard. Many have lost they jobs and have little financial fallback.&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2020-05-14T10:00:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-09T13:50:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html","name":"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-14T10:00:42+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-09T13:50:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2020\/05\/adult-3182384_1920-550x367.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2020\/05\/help-for-pandemic-related-mental-health.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Help for Pandemic Related Mental Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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