Hi my name is Dr. Parsonage, I'm a consultant psychiatrist and I work at the
Priory Hospital North London and I'm here today to talk to
you a little bit about how to cope with depression through the COVID lockdown.
There's a lot of uncertainty around at the moment
as to how long the lockdown is going to go on and even with the recent relaxing
of the restrictions it's still clear that we have to stay at home to keep
ourselves safe; but it's that uncertainty that can be very
difficult to cope with. It could be going on for another three weeks or
potentially another three months and if we try and think about that in the long
term that can lead to a lot of anxiety. So the best way is to try and just take
things one day at a time and try not to think too much about how long this is
going to be going on for. Keeping a good routine and a good structure to your
days can be very helpful - it's very tempting if you don't have anything to
do with your time; if you've been furloughed or if you're not at school or
college to laying in in the morning or not have any kind of regular
activities during the day but it might sound a good idea for the short term but
in the long term that can actually have a negative impact on your mood and your
wellbeing so I'd encourage you to try and keep a good routine by getting to
bed at the same time every night and try to get up at the same time in the
morning. So keep your daily routine, same bedtime, same getting up time in the
morning and that will help you with your mood. Again it's very easy to lose any
structure or routine with our days when we don't have anything specific to get
up for or to do but what's very helpful is to plan your days - have regular
mealtimes and structure your time so maybe you have a block in the morning
for a certain activity and another block in the afternoon for another kind of
activity but don't try and overwhelm yourself and do too much but just
keep things regular and plan some daily goals or things you want to
achieve during that day. During this lockdown period we are all asked
to stay at home as much as possible and that can be quite an intense period to
just be around the same people 24/7 so try and give each other a little bit of
space and not accept that things might be a little bit more tense at times and
just try and let things go rather than
allowing things to escalate into arguments. To help during this
these difficult times I think it's good if you can try and give yourself a bit
of space maybe if you have your own room in the house to spend some time away
from from each other because it's quite unusual to spend 24/7 with the same
people for prolonged periods of time. There's a lot on the media, on the
news, on social media at the moment, about COVID and the effects and the impact. I
think it's good that we keep ourselves updated but try and limit your time to
watching the news and social media because I think too much of it can
become quite overwhelming and can have a negative impact on how you're feeling
and the kind of things that you're thinking about what's going
on at the moment. Try and focus on the positives, there are some good
things that have come from this and there's an opportunity maybe to spend
more time with your children at home maybe start that hobby that you've
always wanted to take up, learning the guitar or playing the piano, and now is
actually a real good time to have a go at those kind of things. I know there are
some people who don't have many friends or family who are nearby or they're able
to keep connected with, but there are other ways of staying connected with
with your community or other people who share interests and there are a lot of
people who are connecting online through different forums and online
groups where they're able to chat to other people who've got similar
interests. So I think staying connected socially is very important for
our wellbeing and to feel that we're not going through this alone.
It's very good to try and be able to express yourself in some way; a lot of
people will use art as a way of trying to make themselves feel better
and express how they're feeding. Many people are finding things very difficult
at the moment and maybe don't know where they can they can get extra support.
Well clinicians are working, a lot of therapists that I know are now
delivering their therapies online, video calls and there is certainly
doctors that are also keeping in touch with their patients by video calls and
telephone calls, so if you're needing extra support please don't stay at home
suffering - there are people out there who are able
to help you.