Here, Mental Health Europe and Pfalzklinikum discuss the pertinent issue of mental health in the times of the pandemic
The global COVID-19 outbreak changed the public discussion about mental health. While in recent years, the world has slowly begun to understand the crucial importance of these issues, it was during the stillness of lockdown that people found themselves most tested.
For those who were isolated alone, severed from their loved ones, severed from the purpose-giving routine of work and study, mental health became one of the most essential things to understand and dissect. Now, as the days get colder and longer in much of Europe, the conversation around mental health remains as urgent as it was in March.
How will people endure a second wave, a second set of limitations?
MHE collected interviews, jointly published with Pfalzklinikum in the following eBook. Interviews with real people who normally work to empower a better mental health in the people they encounter daily. Currently, they face the double-edged sword of maintaining their own health and continuing their difficult, crucial work.
Their advice is multi-faceted and practical.
It is not easy or healthy to believe that a person can instantly embody a positive, healthy state of mind. Mental health is a living, breathing thing, as complex as our physical health and often connected. It evolves differently every single day, but we can influence the shape of it. Here, one of the key pieces of advice for those looking for hope is to “focus on good things every day.”
Currently, the problems facing the world are immense. Most of the solution to this pandemic, e.g. finding a viable vaccine, are out of our hands. The big picture presents a vast powerlessness to those who look upon it. Focusing on something small and positive in your daily life can then help you balance your sense of stability. Thinking about the larger problems without being able to solve them makes it near impossible to maintain a secure state of mind for yourself – a hard lesson many of us learnt in the first lockdown.
There are many gems of wisdom in the conversations here. Read this to understand how we can get through this pandemic in one piece.
