A look at how locals have handled mental health a year into the pandemic

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) – As the fight against Covid-19 continues, many people are struggling with mental health issues. Some experts are calling it a pandemic inside a pandemic.

Rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues have climbed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and continue to increase as the year goes by.

People who have lived with mental health conditions their whole lives are finding that they are changing in ways they weren’t expecting. Others are finding themselves seeking therapy for the first time.

Therapist and Career Coach Susan Abbot, MA says, you might want to seek help if you start seeing signs of lacking initiative, your mind running off with anxious thoughts, and worrying about things that are out of your control.

A recent study by the center for disease control and prevention showed that 40 percent are struggling with mental health issues due to the pandemic.

“Most people are cut off from things that self soothe them. They are experiencing isolation and anyone who has too much isolation is going to get mental health problems, said Susan Abbot, MA.

Susan says she saw an increase in bad habits due to the isolation and boredom here in Humboldt County.  

“I walk down alleys to avoid crossing people on a narrow street and I have never seen garbage cans so full of alcohol bottles since the start of the pandemic. I think people are bored.” Said Susan Abbot, MA.

Amid the pandemic, the transition of political power in the United States, the struggle for racial justice, and disasters related to climate change all played a huge part in mental health increasing during the pandemic.

A year into the pandemic, there is a new normal on the horizon. Susan suggests being open-minded to new ways will help better mental health in our local community.

Susan Abbot, MA is a Therapist and Career Coach at Marsh Commons Wellness Center. She provides a couple of ways to help build your emotional and mental fitness.

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How to Build your Emotional and Mental fitness.

  • Be as concerned for your mental health as your physical health they affect each other. One can lower the immune system of the other.
  • Adopt your nutrition for strong Mental Health e (eliminate or reduce sugar, caffeine, processed foods, transition to a whole foods diet.
  • Get Creative: cooking, building, crafting anything where you control the choices and the outcome.
  • Have a gratitude practice -simple as remembering one thing each night that happened during the day that you feel appreciation for , a smile, a strength you expressed, a friend’s call or concern, a walk in nature
  • Strive to maintain a positive attitude, focus on what’s good and your faith in the rest
  • Be Physically Active everyday
  • Reduce or stop any abuses of substances-food, drugs, alcohol, media
  • Get 20 minutes of sun a day and supplement with D3 in the winter after being tested for your levels
  • Practice good sleep hygiene getting 8-9 hours daily
  • Cut back on blue light stimulation (cut out all electronics) one hour before bedtime and other sleep hormone interrupters such as electronics where you sleep.
  • Be kind to yourself and to others.
  • Set up weekly, regular dates with members of your social network or join online Zoom classes so you are keeping mentally and emotionally encaged

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If you don’t improve from doing these lifestyle changes seek out a professional during this time. More information can be found at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/susan-abbott-arcata-ca/398185

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