Mental Health during Isolation

Wendy
Um, hi everyone, am I have, so I’m Wendy Ingram. I’m one of the co-founders and the CEO of Dragonfly Mental Health. We are a worldwide global organization of academics, by academics, for academics focused on cultivating excellent mental health among academics worldwide. And I am so pleased and excited to, to be here for this talk by one of our amazing members and team leads, organizational team lead, Olga here and she is going to give a talk on Mental Health and Isolation. And we really appreciate everyone who has come and might be popping in a little bit later as the hour moves on.

Olya
Okay, thank you so much. So yeah, basically, we decided to organize couple of talks during the Mental Health Awareness Week, and one of them is Mental Health and Isolation. And it’s been prepared together with Max Planck society, mental health collective volunteers in the Dragonfly, Mental Health collective volunteers. So basically, this big bunch of people got together and made a talk on mental health in isolation. So before we start, I’d like to give you some disclaimers. First of all, I’m not a therapist, and I’m not entitled to give any advices or anything, I am a medical doctor, I have a PhD, but I am not practicing practicing as a psychotherapist or psychiatry. So on this, all the things that I’m talking about, they’re more like general knowledge. I do not have kids and I live alone. I think it’s important to say when we’re talking about isolation, because I experienced firsthand some mental health issue with living alone. But, of course, it’s absolutely different for people who have kids, we will touch on that today. However, I have not experienced this personally. And also very important to mention is that my boss is reasonable. And you talk to him, and you can talk to him and negotiate with him. And this, of course, it’s been one of the important things why my isolation time was did not really suck that much, I have to say. So what is different now, on top of everyone, especially in Germany wearing masks. So first of all, actually, I what I want to say what I wanted to say is that, and as I have already told a couple times before and other talks, I was really, really hoping that this talk would be outdated, and that we will not need this talk these days, it would have been so nice if we could just archive this talk and say that’s it. We gave it once in a while, but it’s not necessary now, but no Unfortunately, it seems like secondly, we’ve come in and already came to multiple places. And some points there were no even the end of the first wave. So we’re still there. We’re still in corona times. So let’s talk on what’s different now from the pre corona times. So first of all, it’s lack of physical content with-, contact with family members, friends and colleagues. Some of us are working from home. Some of us unfortunately, are temporary unemployed. Those who work in wet lab they have either stopped or reduced their research activities, and all the things together, they bring in uncertainty for the future financially, health-wise, travels, other plans. Some of us have to homeschool children. And, of course, all these things they cannot avoid, but they do impact our mental health. Um, for some people, they’re they’re better off during lockdown, and some people are worse off during lockdown. So we’re going to talk about those who are worse off because better off are fine. So, um, there have been already some studies on quarantine measures. And most of the publications say that there are negative psychological outcomes such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger, stress, and so on and so forth. And overall, the conclusion and then of course, quarantined measures during serious outbreaks have extensive negative consequences for the mental health. Some numbers there are pretty interesting, still going on certain point social study from London, and they have asked more than 19,000, 90,000 responders on their physical and sociological, social experiences. So what I would like to say here is that as we see here, during the first weeks of lockdown, a depression is going on but further on our body, our body and our mind seem to adapt. And also the corona measures this was for UK seemed to be like, easing, Yeah, here you can see it that and then So together with the adaptation and ease of measures, things are getting better for depression on depression and anxiety. What is important here, I don’t know which age groups of people are here. But I think this is very important graph for people who work with students. So for PhD coordinators, and for postdocs and for group leaders, here, we see that this depression is a by age group that in them, the kids from 19 to 29, they’re the most affected. So this is our PhD students, they are here in this group, and they’re the most effective. So we really should give them a closer look and take care of them from this perspective, because they’re the most affected group. So it goes the same for anxiety goes the same for self harm and thoughts of death. So unfortunately, while we’re thinking of ourselves and of course, this is extremely important, and we put the mask on ourselves, we also need to put a mask on our PhD students. However, things are not that bad. If you see here, especially if at least from March to August, and things were getting better as an with the life satisfaction, as I already said that our brain adapts pretty well. And people, especially in the first world countries are getting more used. And they’re less worried that government will not be able to provide them with food or things like that. So at least, people are less worried about financial and food situation, at least that was the case by the end of summer, I’m pretty sure that the curves are growing now with the second wave. Now, I would like to really give a closer look as what on what’s happening to body and mind. So first of all, mental health is not different from physical health. So there are triggers affecting the mental health state as there are some triggers which are affecting physical state health, there are also of course, some triggers which affected mental health. So it is crucial, it is essential and very important, I underline to understand what is your anxiety response. And you have to learn how to manage the stimuli and make yourself less anxious. And what is (word missing) basically. So as most of you of course know there’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for a function for the taking control over body functions when there’s a rest and sympathetic is responsible during stress time. So basically, sympathetic system is responsible for our fight or flight response. When it happens in in natural habitats, basically, when your body sees the the tiger, which is going to attack you, you see the acute stress. So you see the predator, the response for your body, and your mind is known biologically and evolutionary so so your body feels like it needs to do something right now. So sympathetic switch systems, which is on and it’s basically your, you get the fight or flight response, or the flight from predator or fight the predator. And that makes your sympathetic system to be switched on for a short time. So you’d get a possibility to fight to get the fight or flight response. And then after the stress is gone, your sympathetic system changes have been taken over this signals by parasympathetic system. So what happens during the chronic stress, like COVID-19 The problem is that it’s it’s here all the time, it’s with our system, the news, it’s in the talks, it’s in the discussions, it’s everywhere, your body feels like it’s in a danger in but in mind, it feels like they’re in danger, and you need to do something, and the natural way of doing something is fight or flight, but the problem is that neither flight nor fight as possible. So you cannot fight COVID you cannot fly from COVID there is no COVID free space, and it makes your sympathetic system to be chronically on and that’s why you feel or I feel, we all feel anxious and agitated permanently. And this is the major issue which causes your body to feel like you know, something is good, something bad is going to happen I need to do something it is critical to manage this system. And how do we see what are actually symptoms of this chronic sense of sympathetic system being constantly on? Sleep is disturbed, which creates this nested feedback loop of of like, you sleep less you’re more anxious, yes, then you sleep less then you’re more anxious then you sleep less on so on and so forth. Am, often emotional control is being impaired because of this. So you are feeling that you need to fight or flight and of course it will affect the people who are close by to you, your friends, your family members, of course, they will be the first to fight or flight. Um, also a lot of people report, rumination is the it’s when your thought process about being caught in some loop of thinking about one thing, and you cannot stop thinking about it. And also the the idea of the other problem is the la- loss of life structure. So basically, you used to get up at eight, leave to work at nine, be at work at at 10 leave at six and you know, have some sort of like life routine, which has been affected by COVID. Of course, this loss of life structure has been probably taken care of by by the most, but we’ll still talk about it a little bit. So what to do, you need to manage your environment to minimize anxiety triggers, and maximize anti anxiety experiences. Practically speaking, when we’re talking about chronic sleep deprivation or something, you need to try to acknowledge this and feel that yes, I am in this nasty feedback loop. So a lot of people are saying that guided relaxation is really helpful to them. Now, as I always say, I also have to mention that here I come from former Soviet Union place. So guided relaxation and mindfulness technique, were never a thing there never no one even knows, or no one knew back then when I was growing up that this thing even existed. So of course, you come from the place where it didn’t exist or was mocked, sort of, yeah. And I was absolutely negative about this completely negative. I was like, come on, like think in 10 minutes that you should relax, like, well, will it help you to relax? This is ridiculous. But in fact, it’s not ridiculous and tried it in the beginning of pandemic and it actually really, really helps. guided relaxation is one of the best things one can use. Plus, you can, of course, at certain point it when you start, it feels a bit not helpful or less helpful, but it’s one of the things which are like really kicking in right away. And after a certain amount of training, you really, really feel much better. During the and after guided relaxation. Of course, they’re playing to YouTube videos and guidance, which can help you to do this, because it’s difficult to do it on your own without anything. So there are more spiritual ones. And there are less spiritual ones, it is up to you to which one to choose. Regarding emotional control, which is impaired. So you really should tell yourself when you’re isolated that you are doing something. So it’s not that you’re sitting at home aimlessly, it’s actually you’re sitting at home taking care of the elderly citizens who are a danger and who are a major risk nowadays, you are much more than helping medical doctors who are the frontline fighting COVID. So these are the things that you should tell yourself, yes, I’m sitting at home and it feels like I’m just, you know, watching Netflix or whatever it is, yeah, but I am actually doing something and I’m helping the society and the members of society and the people nearby me to survive and to go through COVID. Rumination – um, they’re not that many thing. I mean, I, I have to say that also, this is one of the things that regarding the practice, practicing guided relaxation can help with ruminating. But also, it’s important to understand that mind can only ruminate about one thing at a time. And during one of the training I we participated, and we were given a task to describe the picture. So basically, I still remember it was very nice filled with the with the poppy flowers, I think it’s called like this, this red ones, from which we get focuses. And so if you feel that you’re ruminating, you should have a look at one picture with the field or snow or whatever you like and just start describing it. And then it will help your brain to switch from ruminating on one thing to like to get into the process of thinking about something else. And describing a picture with a nice view is something which which helps, you should try it. I think it’s really nice, some sort of some sort of a shortcut. And with the loss of structures, you need to create new structures. For me, it was morning walks before work. So even though everything is closed, you still can go for a walk, you can go take a coffee cup to go or just go for a walk, and so on and so forth. These are the things, small things, and we’ll talk about new structures a bit furthers. Um, yeah. Also what’s important is to managing news perception. I think we also have managed all of us more or less to stop reading about COVID at certain point, but still it’s it’s really important to care and budget your news consumption maybe to two-three hours a day. And try not to watch the news within two hours of going to sleep. This is important and otherwise you’ll you’ll constantly be thinking about whatever is happening. Um, I think one of the things which can help the sleep pattern is getting a natural light alarm clock for dark times, especially it helps with the waking up. Um, and another thing is, you should try to use a palate cleanser. What washing after news. So basically, this comes from, from food tasting, I think when they use palate cleanser in between different dishes, so I think we should use the same for for the brain. For me, for example, it’s watching some sitcoms, which I already know which I’ve watched a million times before. So for me watching some some sort of like brain palate cleanser helps to bring my sympathetic system a bit less active. Create a new schedule, wake up at a specific time and gold bed a specific time. Important. Yes, possible. I don’t know for some people, yes, for some people, no, but it is especially if you work from home every day, you really should try doing this and it will help you to have more structure, eat your meals at the same time. And of course try to eat healthy food this is nothing new. Is this is this was particularly difficult for me. Shedule weekdays separate from weekends. For me, it was nearly impossible. Because I was, and I’m still writing the paper. And you never know when the Muse comes, she may come and visit you over Saturday evening, then you have to sit and write, extremely difficult. So this is a bit too optimistic for me. But I’m pretty sure that there are people who can do it. And again, morning walk, before coffee, before work. And of course that quality down to get to spend more time with your families such as especially like if you enjoy doing some things together, such as sports, watching comedy, a lot of people enjoy singing karaoke with their family, and basically all the aerobic activities or dance or whatever it is, helps a lot. Now, when I was preparing for this talk, I have asked a bunch of my colleagues with the kids, what do they do then if they have to work from home and they have to homeschool the kids. And one of the nice things which were suggested was that you have shifts basically you just make shifts with your partner. In the morning, you said with the kids and your partner works and vice versa in the afternoon, and then maybe some couple of hours after work after 7pm or something to to catch up with the things which you didn’t manage to do, um, for single parents is much more difficult, of course. And the honest suggestion, or the practical suggestion, which was there nearby around is that you need to like team up with some other parents and you can do the strip’s with parents were the single parents also have the kids. Otherwise, it’s extremely difficult because the kindergartens are closed. schools are closed, if it happens again. Yeah. Then you either split the duties with your partner or you team up with other parents. Otherwise, it’s a nightmare. Yes, as we discussed, activities was, was kids. Now getting back to work, this seems a bit too optimistic for now. But still, this is important thing which we have experienced in August, here in Germany. It was very, very difficult that you don’t go to work at all. And then suddenly, your institute tells you, no, now you have to take care and show up five days at work out of like five working days. And we’re like, are you absolutely crazy. This is this is virtually impossible to sit at home for three months and then start going to work every day. So when it was possible, we decided to agree that even though the rules are five days at work, we still try to manage to do it at least three days in the first couple of weeks. But here again, my boss is a very reasonable guy. So with him I was he doesn’t care much so we managed to to negotiate on this things was very nice. Um, if you have or have had longer terms, longer term mental health problem, you are entitled to reasonable adjustments, so you need to talk to your family doctor at, okay, in Europe. I’m not sure how it is in the states unfortunately and in the States that of course is probably much different and most likely much worse. But this year in Europe, you are entitled to get to some some easing and reasonable adjustments, you just need to talk to your family doctor. the, If you haven’t feel like talking to your boss before about your mental issues, then I think maybe this is a reasonable time, even the boss is okay to tell him or her them that you know, like, I will need time to adjust. And it will take me some time. Getting professional help is always important to keep in mind that if you’re struggling doesn’t mean you should or you have to. If you’re struggling, go talk to your family doctor, try to find a therapist at your own by asking the community or simply googling one. With the public insurance, especially here in Europe, you’re entitled for several free of charge hours, and then you can decide with the therapist. If you’re from Max Planck society, please email me I can guide you to the email program. They have special special offers, by the way for people who are in the States. But there are still Max Planck, you are entitled to get this, it might help. We should be able to but at least we can figure it out. Alternatively, you can get online sessions with a therapist from your country, but you’ll have to pay but it will be on your own language. And you should keep in mind you can always go to ER and ask them for help in case if you feel some sort of suicidality or something like this. Is there some question? Someone switched on the microphone. Okay. Yeah, please, if you feel that something is bad is going to happen. If you’re not sure if you’re about to harm yourself, you can always go to ER even if you don’t speak the local language, like even if you don’t speak German here in Germany, you go to the ER and they will be able to help you. Another thing is to check out burnout clinics in your city. And of course, for the students, most universities offer health programs for students. So even if your local Institute doesn’t offer the help, you can always go to university and say, Hey, I’m a student, I need help and they should be able to help you as well. Other things you can do socialize with other scientists independent on the scientific topic. For example, you can use Dragonfly Cafe, which happens three times a week in Dragonfly. And it’s basically a casual chat about some mental health issues or not necessarily about isolation, some tips and tricks, how to get therapists in Germany, we get covered. But as of course, not only German oriented, and you can participate with video or microphone or without microphone or without video, whatever, you can just listen, you can participate anonymously, you just do whatever you feel comfortable with. And you can talk to other people. Here is the picture from the Dragonfly. So basically, this is how our sessions looks like. You can also do scientific related socializing, again, Dragonfly is an option here but other options is to talk to your program coordinator, PhDs and postdoc perhaps they can guide you, or maybe they can help you organize something, maybe you can have breakfast, tea times, coffee breaks, whatever it is. Um, another thing is that you should check online because some key opinion leaders in your field especially Twitter’s filled with them, most likely organizing some free lectures and seminars online nowadays. So if you want to socialize and continue having some scientific conversations and communications, most of the key opinion leaders are organizing something check out and maybe you can find something else. For me also volunteer was very rewarding because I scientifically am participating in a very long term study. So now it’s four years, fourth year and counting. And particularly from science, I don’t have much of reward but when I’m volunteering, and I do something now I’m giving the lecture and I’ll feel much better than I did something and I’m telling my brain Hey, you’re doing something. So for me volunteering is really, really beneficial. So you could also join Dragonfly Mental Health or some other thing, whatever you feel like in volunteering, and yeah, that help. Okay, am damn more information; managing your mental health during COVID-19 on Coursera is a wonderful course I base most of my my lecture based on this course, it’s a couple of weeks it’s really really nice. And then the guy who’s giving the course he also gives you an examples of guided relaxation, a lot of wonderful things. He also has kids so he can give this advices on on how to manage kids. Very nice. I absolutely recommend it to everyone. Then on MentalHealth.org.uk, they prepared a lot of resources on how to look at your mental health during Corona virus outbreaks. Especially, they have also some resources for parents, especially for young adults who are also very fragile group of people, I would say, they also have some tips on what to do when the when one of us when one can be a domestic violence victim, they have a lot of tips and tricks on an on a lot of things where to go to, in case of domestic violence. So there are also two Mental Health First Aid Courses one on Coursera, and another one on Johns Hob-, Johns Hopkins University. Both of them are very nice. And so basically, I personally went through Coursera, and half of other our other volunteers went through this one from Johns Hopkins. And also both got very nice reviews. And we would definitely suggest this courses if you want to help others.

Wendy
Thank you for a fantastic talk, Olga. That was just wonderful so I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and we look forward to interacting with you more in the future.