---
title: Maintaining Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Crisis
description: The COVID-19 crisis and the isolation and uncertainty it brings can cause stress and anxiety to intensify. Follow these guidelines to maintain mental health.
---

[Cloud Native Blog - Container Solutions ](https://blog.container-solutions.com)

# [Maintaining Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Crisis](https://blog.container-solutions.com/maintaining-your-mental-health-during-the-covid-19-crisis)

 Written by [Helen Bartimote](https://blog.container-solutions.com/author/helen-bartimote) | Mar 24, 2020 9:11:44 AM

*The following guidance has been written primarily for use by Container Solutions employees globally; but it is being shared externally to act as a useful reminder for all workplaces in these challenging times. It is an ongoing and evolving document and has been compiled using various sources, which have been referenced as much as possible throughout the document.*

**

### Understanding Anxiety in a Disaster Situation 

- **Remind yourself** that emotions such as sadness, fear, anger and frustration are all perfectly **normal reactions** to the current situation and you are absolutely not alone in having these feelings.

- **Do not try to minimise or deny your emotions. **Give time to them, although this may feel painful. Accept that you will experience these emotions during this difficult period. It can help to write these feelings down and to share them with others.

- **Accept your feelings**. It’s a sign that your body’s natural defense mechanisms are activated. You are also more likely to engage in health-seeking behaviours if you accept these feelings.

- **Most importantly, focus on what you can control** in this situation—i.e., social distancing, choosing to turn off the news, what you eat, your sleep routine, how frequently you check in to social media, etc. *Make a list of what you know you can control and what you feel you cannot*. You are much more likely in this type of extreme event to feel out of control than with other stressors, but if you try to focus on what you can control, this will help. This hopefully will then lead you to spend less time focussing on what is on the ‘out of control’ list.

- **Play the long game**. Take time to process what is happening. Give yourself time to adjust. If you carry on as if nothing is changing, you will burn out before this ends.

- **Know that your feelings of worry **are being triggered due to this situation being unpredictable, novel and ambiguous— all the ingredients that can lead to worrying thoughts and ultimately anxiety. This is perfectly normal.

### Empathetic Responding

In times of crisis and threat, research shows that people will tend to respond in one of three ways; with [some being more helpful than others](https://www.internationalsos.com/client-magazines/looking-after-yourself-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak):

Communicate in safe ways with people in your communities who are vulnerable and be a sympathetic ear for those suffering the most. Maintain your relationships.

## Daily Life

 

### Dealing with Change and Loss

Alongside the unprecedented changes we are facing, it is likely that we are all going to be experiencing **some form of loss **over the next few months, not necessarily in terms of bereavement but the loss of normality, freedom of movement, social connection, hobbies, and new experiences. This will lead us to enter into the stages associated with grief.

It is more important than ever to be aware of the emotions associated with each of these stages. We talk a lot in CS about emotional self-awareness, emotional expression, empathy, interpersonal relationships so as to support practices of psychological safety. 

We will go through a number of stages as we progress through this crisis situation as postulated by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in the model below. She concluded these are the stages that individuals go through when they are experiencing illness and dying. However, it is a helpful model to think about in a crisis situation when individuals are experiencing sudden and significant unexpected changes. **It is helpful as it shows us how we will eventually reach a point of acceptance and a time when we will make plans for a new future.**

There will be **shock and denial **at first and this will move on to feelings of **anger**. We may move on quite quickly to feeling **helpless, overwhelmed **and wanting to **escape this situation**; but it is a cycle and we will move to **accepting** what has happened and develop new plans and options. We will adapt.  This is how we experience very difficult and sudden changes in our lives.

### External Support

Don’t hold back from asking for help if you need it. Reach out to others if you are feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope. We are all in this together.

If you feel you would prefer not to seek help within your own organisation, please consider the following online resources with direction on how to get psychological support:

- **[Mind.org](https://www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/?ctaId=/need-urgent-help/using-this-tool/slices/using-this-tool/) **
- **[Samaritans.org](https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/talk-us-phone/)**
- **[Dutch government resources](https://www.government.nl/topics/mental-health-services/question-and-answer/help-for-mental-health-problems)**
- **[TogetherWeAre-Strong](https://togetherweare-strong.tumblr.com/helpline)**
  
   

Photo by [Josh Hild](https://unsplash.com/@joshhild?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/quarantine?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)

 

 

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