Future Shaping: Talking About Emotional Wellness
During Stressful Times
By: Patricia Miller, Clinical Social Work/Therapist, MSW, MA, Psych, PhD(c)
As a mental health professional and community based researcher in private practice I have the good fortune of meeting many incredible people in this city and beyond. We all know that Alberta is in the midst of a financial tsunami, which in turn has lead to significant emotional stress for this province’s people. We are in need of an economic recovery but that has not occurred. The emotional toll regarding the oil price fall-out has financially and emotionally disenfranchised many good Albertans. A multitude of my clients and their families are experiencing significant emotional stress due to lost jobs, the potential threat that they will lose their job or knowing family members and friends that have lost their jobs, lost their companies, and are financially having to reconsider major life decisions.
My philosophy in private practice is that if one person suffers, we all suffer. No one is immune in this province when it comes to lay offs, cut backs, increased work load, less workplace resources, decreased job opportunities and overall day to day stress related to this economic crisis. Our young, our old, teenagers, stay at home parents/care givers, trades people, professionals, students and even our pets can be impacted by the stress of turbulent financial times.
The Canadian Mental Health Association reports that 20% of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime. It is important during times of significant stress that people become aware of the signs that they or someone they care about is not coping well. Mental wellness needs to be our focus if we are to recover emotionally from this crisis. It is important to find ways to effectively deal with stress. If stress is not reduced in a timely manner it can lead to anxiety and sleep disorders, burn out, and depression.
Some signs that you or someone else might not dealing well with stress:
- Sleep disturbance (not falling asleep, waking up during the night, and restless sleep)
- Emotional Irritability
- Working longer hours out of a sense of urgency with less productivity
- Increased recreational drug and alcohol use
- Social isolation
- More bad days then good
- Feeling helpless and hopeless
- Decreased focus and concentration
- A chronic sense that things are out of control
- Less ability to deal with domestic, financial or other concerns
- Increased interpersonal conflict that is becoming unmanageable
- Impulsive and/or destructive behaviors that would not be your normal response in workplace or other interpersonal situations
- Erratic behaviors that undermine your general value system regarding finances, relationships, general health and community matters
- Experiencing thoughts that one’s life does not matter
When people are facing a significant increase in stress for longer periods of time, the brain and body do not get a chance to recover from the impact of that stress. In short, we do not get a chance to regain a healthy emotional and physical state. The chronic increase of cortisol that comes from perceived and real threat keeps the body in a compulsive state of “flight, fight or freeze”. In a simplistic sense, our elephant brain is actively engaged as if there is a bear in the room at all times. If you find that you are not coping well with stress there are many well-researched and recognized ways to reduce the impact of chronic stress in your life or to encourage someone else to do so.
Some of the ways that we encourage clients to better manage their stress:
- Engaging exercise that you enjoy, even 20-30 minutes of walking
- Spending time with people that care about you
- Go talk to a Psychologist, Social Worker or any mental health worker
- Talk to other professionals that will help you manage your health, finances, business or any other significant domain of your life that feels out of your control
- Go see your doctor regarding physical concerns
- Enjoy nature
- Engaging mindfulness based activities such as art, hobbies, craftsmanship, cooking, or any activity that brings you personal satisfaction
- Spend time with pets
- Enjoy healthy physical touch
- Listen to music
- Read a book
- Journal, paint, doodle
- Engage a new hobby
- Enjoy social outings
- Find a new activity on the meet-up website that allows you to connect with active like minded people
- Practice good sleep hygiene including a regular bedtime during the week
- Turn off electronics such as ipads, ipods and other computer devices one hour before bed
- Practice mindful strategies that will help you sleep such as reading an enjoyable book, listening to music, having a bath
- Talk to people at work, in your neighborhood and family about your stress and how it is impacting you
- Take one day a week to engage in enjoyable activities that will allow you to release your mind from the pressures of the stress
- Structure in daily down time to allow for stress reduction
- Decrease use of stimulants such as caffeine, high sugar foods and drinks
- Turn off all media during the evening to allow your brain to disengage the details of the current economic climate
- Volunteer with a cause that has meaning to you
- Visit the mountains or any other natural setting that engages your five senses in a good way
If you have tried to reduce stress or have been experiencing significant anxiety or panic, then it might be time to talk directly to a mental health professional that can better assess the severity of your current emotional situation and help you develop a proactive mental wellness response. It is important to know that we can all experience anxiety at times but chronic anxiety or panic (which is like anxiety on steroids) can lead to significant distress and emotional suffering while also increasing the risk of burnout, depression, isolation and suicide.
Stress and its impact is a real experience for all people, no matter what our age, ethnicity, gender, class or ability. Our vibrant city and its people have been immensely impacted by the fall of oil prices and that is a fact that cannot be currently changed. What can change is how we respond to our own mental health and the mental health of those we know and care about through family, workplace and community relationships. All future shaping dialogues regarding this current financial crisis must include recognition of the emotional suffering that many Albertans continue to face. Lets make a commitment to recognize our own stress and limitations while reaching out to others. We can start by becoming aware of what each of us can do to reduce the individual and collective emotional impact of financial stress, while increasing our resiliency to live well during turbulent financial times. Knowledge sharing starts with public awareness regarding the emotional impact of financial stress and action oriented mental wellness support for self, those we care about and the community that matters to all of us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Patricia Miller is a registered Social Worker, Registered Prov. Psychologist, and Mediator, working in private practice at the Family Psychology Place.
She is a sessional instructor at Mount Royal University and a community based researcher, specific to mental health and addiction, community development and chronic illness.
She has practiced in the areas of Social Work and Psychology for over 20 years. Her primary areas of practice have included teen and adult assessment and individual, family and couples therapy. She also has experience in practice regarding community issues, health care, education and research. She has published articles, specific to interpersonal violence and its impact on people living with chronic disease. Currently, she is writing her PhD. dissertation, which is focused on chronic illness, peer support and community development.
You can contact her by e-mail at: patricia.miller@shaw.ca
You can preview her private practice website and location at: http://www.familypsychologyplace.com