What difficult times we are living in!
Recent months seem to have been accompanied by great uncertainty and precarity around the world. Pandemic, Covid19, new rules, lockdown, isolation…
However, if we had a time machine, would we swap and chose to live in a different time in a history?
“If anyone thinks they’d rather be in a different part of history, they’re probably not a very good student of history. Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease. You’d probably have no teeth by now. It would be particularly awful if you were a woman.” – Elon Musk
Well, sounds about right Mr Musk. Unfortunately saying ‘it can always be worse’ will not help us to deal with it.
Unfortunately, since lock down more and more people show the symptoms of depression. Twice as many people in Britain are reporting symptoms, compared with the same time last year. Those people are in nearly every age group and financial bracket. Restrictions, fear, new rules can be overwhelming, can cause extraordinarily strong emotions and can contribute to the low mood. This results with losing interest in life, lacking zest for learning new things, not enjoying things we used to enjoy. Social distancing, rules not allowing us to visit our family and friends awakes in us deep feeling of loneliness, which can contribute to increasing stress level and anxiety.
If you feel hopeless, sad, guilty, if you are feeling tired all the time, can’t be bothered to get out of the bed, if you are eating too much or you’ve lost your appetite, if you are not liking yourself or you do not want to be around other people, it is very possible that you are depressed or you are heading towards it.
Depression can be caused by several elements and it can affect anyone - adults, teenagers and even children.
We all have a different ability to cope with the stress, many of us do not like changes. How do we respond to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic depends on our background, social support from family or friends, our health and emotional history (mental illness history) and even our financial situation.
When should we seek advice and help? It is a time to seek advice and ask for help when the problem becomes big enough to make our life difficult. If you notice significant changes to your behaviour, mood, or thoughts and if you notice these changes do affect your life, then that is the time.
As a music therapist, I would recommend MHarmony Music Therapy Services Northampton to deal with your problem. My sessions are based on Cognitive Behavioural therapy, which is one of the best when we deal with problems like depression or anxiety. Of course, it involves music too.
Remember, it is extremely important to take care of our mental health, the same as our physical health. Mental health is an important part of our wellbeing and it cannot be neglected.
