Mental health in coronavirus times - Gustavo Mirabal Castro

Mental health in 2020…

This year 2020 has been unusual compared to the previous ones. Since the beginning of the year we have been bombarded with negative news such as fires in Australia and Amazonia. All this affects mental health and more when after all then comes the coronavirus pandemic. This is key to moving forward. Taking care of mental health in coronavirus times is essential.

This certainly leaves us sad to see the loss of millions of animals and the desolation of the environments.

In February 2020 the issue of coronavirus began to make more noise. At that time an outbreak began in Italy. From then on the situation was worsening in this country. In addition to this there was a similar situation in the neighbouring countries, especially Spain.

On March 11, the Head of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared covid -19 a pandemic. This means that the virus is already on five continents.

Worldwide there are 4,292,139 infected people of whom there are 1,508,029 recovered and 293,241 deaths.

Then in Latin America, the situation has gradually worsened, the situation, Brazil has a total of 178,883 confirmed cases and 12,484 deaths. For this reason it is the country of South America that rebounds. Peru, Mexico and Chile follow in this order of decencent gravity.

In the case of the United States it became the country with the highest number of confirmed cases. By May 13, it has 1,404,847 confirmed cases and 83,333 deaths.

Seeing this picture certainly fills us with anguish and concern about it we must maintain the prevention measures in our daily lives.

For all the emotional tension in the environment, we must certainly take care of mental health in coronavirus times.

Coronavirus: How to preserve your mental health during quarantines and social distancing.

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Mental Health Concept

Vidal, and Alarcón, 1986 express the following:

In psychiatry mental health is considered to be:

“is the state of active and sufficient balance and adaptation that allows the individual to interact with their environment, creatively, promoting their individual growth and well-being, and that of their close and distant social environment, seeking to improve the conditions of the population’s life according to their particularities”

As we can see, the concept of mental health is very complex. This concept depends directly on the concept of health in general and in itself this is very complex. It’s important to know him at such difficult times as coronavirus times.

Negative effects of coronavirus on people’s mental health

The current situation with the coronavirus pandemic can cause us a “storm of emotions.” It is normal in these circumstances to feel sadness or anger, however we must remain calm so that we do not get sick.

This Covid–19 pandemic is affecting individual and collective mental health. For this reason, stress and fear are not only one’s, but everyone suffers. The uncertainty of this situation takes over everyone in coronavirus times.

Behavioral changes may be more visible, as most people have difficulty sleeping.

On the other hand, people have a hard time concentrating on day-to-day activities.

Iria Grande, secretary of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and professional of the Clinical Hospital said:

“Confinement has broken down many of our routines and faced new challenges, such as reconciling family life with telework. It makes sense that the discomfort will be increased.”

At the moment, what remains is to adapt to the situation and move forward taking into account the prevention measures.

Preserve mental health in times of coronavirus…

To maintain mental health, experts recommend the following points to overcome the coronavirus:

Decrease the time you spend listening to or reading news that causes anxiety or distress. It is recommended to go to reliable sources to avoid seeing fake news that causes more alarm in the population
Maintain prevention measures when you leave home. These include head caps, gloves, social distance and the use of antibacterial gel.
If you have children at home, it’s important to do playful activities, such as playing and drawing. No doubt playing can make this juncture more bearable. It is important that the child feels this recreation space because some suffer from excessive schoolwork.
Perform physical exercises daily in your home, on the internet you can find yoga material, sankai, among others.
Sleep at least 8 hours a day
Feeding properly, this keeps the immune system alert to respond to a disease.
Avoid alcohol, drugs and tobacco.
Playing with your pet, this relaxes and distracts a while from the current situation. If you don’t have a pet it’s the perfect time to adopt one. Contact with animals can be relaxing and very positive for mental health.

Quarantined but connected – Mental health in coronavirus times

While it is true that in these circumstances where we have to respect quarantine, this does not mean that we should isolate ourselves from our loved ones.

Today we have the advantage that technology keeps us connected despite the distance. This is time to make the most of this to maintain effective communication with family and friends.

The options available to keep us connected and communicated are the following communication alternatives to consider:

Emails
Phone calls
Text messages.
Video conference calls.
Social networks.

We can see the wide variety of alternatives to communicate ranging from a text message to a video call.

#StayAtHome or “Stay at Home” is the motto we can see everywhere, and it’s the best way to prevent new cases of covid – 19.

To stay connected and communicated in coronavirus times it is best to use the media mentioned above. This serves to stay in touch and support your family, friends and neighbors.

Communications to maintain mental health during coronavirus

Staying busy and connected: a key to mental health

Maintaining mental health in times of coronavirus is of paramount importance. It is therefore best to try as much as possible to maintain a positive attitude towards this situation.

If you follow the recommendations mentioned above you will notice the difference in day to day.

Gradually we will get out of this situation, the important thing is to maintain prevention. Gustavo Mirabal recommends: Keep your family, friends and support network close. Together we’ll make it.