Here are some tips and resources provided by Dr Erin Kelly, Clinical Psychologist at Foresight Psychology.

These times are unprecedented and highly challenging. It makes sense that most people are struggling with difficult emotions – fear, worry, sadness, grief, frustration, irritability… just to name a few! While it is common to try to escape from these difficult emotions, such as bingeing on food, alcohol or Netflix, there are more helpful and less harmful ways to manage our emotions.

Before we review these strategies, it is important to note that if you are currently feeling highly distressed and you’re struggling to keep up with important daily activities, seek help from a health professional. If you’re already receiving treatment from a mental health professional, make sure to maintain regular sessions, such as through telehealth (via phone or video). If you’re finding it hard to cope on your own, but have never received psychological treatment, this could be a good time to try it out. You can book in to see your GP to discuss getting a referral to a psychologist. You can also read about what a psychologist does on the Australian Psychological Society website.

There are also many crisis lines you can access for free, confidential 24/7 mental health support, such as:

• Lifeline 13 11 14 – a national crisis support and suicide prevention service offering phone, chat, or text.
• Beyond Blue Support Service – 1300 22 4436 – national support from trained mental health professionals via phone, chat, email and forums.
• Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800 – phone and online counselling for young people aged 5 to 25.
• 1800 Respect – 1800 737 732 – Information, counselling and support service to support people impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence and abuse. Phone and chat available.

If you are at immediate risk of harm, call 000.

If you’d like some strategies for managing your emotions yourself, an effective skill is keeping your thinking in perspective. The way you think has a powerful influence on your emotions. Focusing only on the negative aspects of a situation and blowing things out of proportion can keep you stuck in painful feelings. It is understandable that we catastrophise when things are overwhelming and uncertain, but letting our thoughts run wild can make us feel even worse. While it’s also unhelpful to pretend that things are fine, and think overly positive thoughts, trying to look at things in a realistic and balanced way is beneficial for our mental health. Try to read reputable information on COVID-19, so you can align your thinking with the facts, but don’t spend too much time reading information on it or scrolling through social media. What we focus our attention on grows, so get enough information to keep safe, and then focus your attention on other important parts of your life.

To get some help with keeping things in perspective, you access these free resources such as these:

• Psychology Tools: Thoughts
• Psychology Tools: Worry and Anxiety Amidst Global Uncertainty

Another key to coping with difficult emotions seems counter-intuitive – try to accept them. It is completely normal to be feeling a whole array of emotions right now, and very common to try to ignore our feelings, to push them away, or to criticise ourselves for having them. However, these strategies tend to only work in the short-term, and in the long-term can lead to more distress and unhelpful or risky behaviours. Instead, if we acknowledge our feelings, and remind ourselves that it is understandable to be feeling this way, our emotions don’t tend to feel so scary and out of control. This also gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what would help us feel better, and to choose a behaviour that is more helpful in the long-term.

Accepting emotions can be very difficult. Some helpful resources include:

• Centre for Clinical interventions – a specialist clinical psychology service that provides free resources on a range of mental health topics, such as tolerating distress, anxiety, worry, depression and self-compassion.
• Mindfulness and compassion resources – learn skills to recognise and allow difficult emotions, and to be a friend to ourselves when feeling distressed.
• FACE COVID – a set of practical steps for responding effectively to the Corona crisis, using the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy.

Try to be kind to yourself – it is a really challenging time for all of us. Remind yourself that everyone is suffering from this pandemic in their own way, and it is okay to be finding it hard, whatever your circumstance. It will not be like this forever, but while things are hard, remember that we are all in this together.