Is it any wonder that we’re all feeling a level of anxiety during this COVID-19 crisis.
For more than a month, our routines and rituals have been turned upside down – and as creatures of habit, disruption can be a challenge. We are only human, afterall!
Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, spoke to us at Citrus Group and says there is a degree of difficulty for everyone, especially as we don’t have any choice but to follow government and health instructions to get through this crisis together.
“We do have to socially isolate but we do not want to end up mentally unhealthy,” she says.
As Professor Kulkarni points out, there is uncertainty about this threat and we don’t know when it will end. We are in self-isolation and physical distancing, but for how long? Will everything go back to being the same when it is over? These and many more questions are compounding anxiety for us all.
Professor Kulkarni describes 3 phases of anxiety, which all of us will observe and/or experience:
Importantly, Professor Kulkarni has given us some techniques for working from home each day, to manage anxiety or those feelings of not being in control:
If you need more assistance, please talk to your employer, ensure you use your Employee Assistance Program, or speak to your health professional.
We are all in this together and we look forward to seeing this through.
Citrus Group: [email protected] PH: 02 8203 5760