5 therapeutic tools to manage stress better during COVID-19 restrictions medicalxpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicalxpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Declining mental health is a serious public health concern during the pandemic, with three- to five-fold increases in psychological distress across Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy and around the world.
In Canada, adverse mental health effects are even more elevated for parents. Our research shows how mothers’ mental health has been affected, and a preprint manuscript reveals the possible impact on fathers. Clinical teams are dramatically understaffed to meet population-level needs, and the most common therapeutic ‘self-help’ strategies are inadequate given the challenges of social isolation.
As clinicians who research how to handle tough emotions, we have found that skills from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) are uniquely positioned to manage unpleasant emotions during lockdown stress. It is vital to consider new strategies to work through inevitable pandemic challenges and build mental health resilience.