The 5th wave fo the pandemic in Hong Kong has been stressing out many people in different areas of life, including physical health, mental health, financial issues, employment condition, and social connection. According to UK psychologist, Joel Vos, in his book “The Psychology of COVID-19 – building resilience for future pandemics”, the pandemic can have different psychological impacts to different individuals depending on their perception and stress coping styles. Vos mentioned a stress-coping model hypothesizing that when an individual perceives a situation as threatening and one does not have adequate resources to cope with the situation, this individual may suffer from mental health problems or psychological distress. In a meta-analysis conducted by Vos in 2020 (pre-publish), it was found that COVID-19 seemed to impact people’s mental health due to a combination of factors including physical health, socio-economical factors and political factors. For instance, those with higher physical and mental vulnerability may suffer more from psychological problems due to the pandemic. Another example is that people in the lower socio-economic status may also experience more psychological distress. Furthermore, quarantine and lockdown may also increase mental health problems. Some studies indicated that some isolated individuals may suffer from acute post-traumatic symptoms or depression.
In the face of the 5th wave of the pandemic, many people in Hong Kong are less active due to working from home or quarantine. When ones stay at home most of the time due to the pandemic, ones may miss daily routine and engage less in leisure activities. Loneliness may increase due to reduction of socializing activities and social contact. People may also worry more about their financial condition in the face of risk for unemployment. Parents may also experience higher level of stress as they also need to take care of their children who stay home for study. Despite the fact that many people are experienced in coping with the lockdown in the previous waves of the pandemic, some with higher physical or psychological vulnerabilities may still feel very stressed for coping with the 5th wave. How can we take care of our mental health during this stressed period?
In Vos’s book, he provided a number of recommendations for taking care of our mental health. In terms of self-care, we need to maintain our daily routine and normal sleep pattern even though we may be self-isolated at home. It is important for us to pay effort in doing enough physical exercises, indoor or outdoor, as well as going to the nature, such as going to the parks, as much as possible. We also need to pay attention to our needs, emotions, and cognitions so that we can monitor our own mental health during this critical period. When we recognise ourselves having anxiety or depressive mood, we need to notice that these can be normal reactions to atypical situation like the pandemic. If we notice ourselves experiencing some negative emotions, we need to reach out to our family members or friends for support. It is important for us to keep in touch with our family and friends through texting or video calls. When we feel anxious or depressed, we need to avoid being alone for a long time.
For those who need to study or work from home, ones need to separate the place for work/ study from where ones sleep or rest. It is also important for us to plan to do at least one meaningful activity a day, so that we can have something to look forward to during the day. For instance, we may try to learn new skills or knowledge through enrolling in some online courses or watching YouTube videos. For those who are interested in arts, ones could also engage in arts creation, such as painting, writing, or composing music. Furthermore, we can also use the time of self-isolation at home as an opportunity for self reflection on our values and meaning in life.
Even though we cannot control the develop of the pandemic for the time being and we may need to face the stress of coping with our current situation, there are still many things we could do to help us to cope with our stressors with resilience. It is important for us to stay hopeful and positive in a realistic way. May we all have the strengths and wisdom to face this 5th wave of the pandemic.
