Psychotherapy for Managing Covid Stress

We are living through unprecedented times, and many people are struggling as they face mounting challenges in every facet of life.

Many of us who once were able to effectively manage life’s ups and downs now find that our past coping strategies are ineffective at meeting this barrage of stressors. Or perhaps we are simply unable to engage in stress relieving activities once enjoyed. Some of us are turning to maladaptive coping strategies, (e.g., alcohol, drugs), which may help us feel better in the moment, but ultimately take us further away from the life we once knew.

There are essentially three main ways we drift off course from the life path we intend to pursue:

1. Feelings: it’s natural to want to make negative feelings go away or to hold onto positive feelings. By attempting to control our feelings rather than experience and observe the ups and downs as they come, we start to engage in behavior that takes us away from what’s most important to us.

2. Thoughts: it’s common to become “fused” with our thoughts, particularly under stress. We believe or “buy” into the content of what we are thinking when in truth the context of our minds is random and influenced by external phenomenon such as what we just read. This can elicit attempts to “solve” negative mental and emotional states, but problem-solving is ineffective in managing mental chatter and can take us away from the path we want to be on.

3. Being present: this is a bit redundant with the tendency to avoid or control our thoughts and feelings, but frequently when we are caught up in the struggle with feeling better or avoiding certain thoughts, we become so distracted that we aren’t really part of the life we are living and we may become disconnected from the relationships most important to us. 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help you reconnect with the life you want to have by helping you change the relationship you have with your thoughts and feelings. The goal is to help you identify what is most important to you, what you value most, and live in a way that is closer to those values and goals while accepting the ebb and flow of emotions and mind chatter.