Dr Michelle Gray’s List of Self-Help Ideas/ Resources
Dr Michelle Gray’s List of Self-Help Ideas/ Resources
Many of you are feeling anxious about the uncertainty of how Covid will play out in your lives. I have been collecting and posting articles and self-help ideas each week. Here are the self-help suggestions that you can use as homework to help manage anxiety and stress. The last listing is the one that I posted first, and the top one is the one I found for this week.
- With the numbers increasing, isolation is an important tool in reducing your risk of Covid. Self-care in Isolation is extra important.
- A good article explaining difficulties with concentration in this pandemic:
- An article on family stress:
- An article on calming one’s self:
- A good article on how to cope with mood changes that may be happening now that the dark and cold are here:
- Here is a 14 minute “Listen” and a bonus cartoon about what is happening to your brain when you worry. It includes several good practical exercises.
- https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/927134772/when-the-headlines-wont-stop-here-s-how-to-cope-with-anxiety
- An article about polyvagal theory with Deb Dana. The polyvagal nerve is very important in managing the central nervous system’s activities. In therapy,we often do activities that promote calmness in the CNS. This article was written for therapists, but when you see/ hear “your clients” replace that in your mind with you/ yourself and it should work well.
- Another excellent YouTube from Laurie Santos on Coping Strategies.
- A quick video from Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and Keynote speaker from Psychotherapy Networker online conference, on living with uncertainties.
- An article on getting ready for fall and winter
- Permission: It’s ok to feel ok right now
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/smarter-living/coronavirus-feeling-ok.html?action=click&block=more_in_recirc&impression_id=27c3f930-e07d-11ea-aa62-99e9e72a8384&index=3&pgtype=Article%C2%AEion=footer
- How to develop common ground in conversations:
- Decluttering During the Pandemic
- This week’s self-help resource from the online platform Medium. Medium is an edited platform for essays so it is not a good source for scientific information. It does have a wide variety of opinions. This article is a good one that puts covid malaise into a new light.
- How to form a social pod for pandemic support
- An article about the benefits of solitude……
- An article about sleep….
- This is the youtube channel for AZ Psychological Association. These are short videos on how to maintain good mental health in these challenging times.
- Please learn about the work of Laurie Santos, who studies Happiness and taught the Science of Happiness Course for Yale. You may enter these resources with various levels of commitment:
- If you have a half hour, here is a facebook video Q & A session about how to be happy and well in these uncertain times: https://www.facebook.com/Coursera/videos/642782703167460/
- If you would like to hear one of her podcasts: http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/happiness-lab?sid=coursera-intro&c=mM4Rv2zr5snXGWGbuJkXZw&h=8339ed1403a98e09f
- And finally, if you would like to take the Yale Science of Happiness for FREE from Coursera. It is a 10 week course, but those who have taken it, recommend it https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being/home/welcome
- Please let me know if you would like the full booklet Disastershock This is an excellent book of ideas, suggestions, and exercises on how to improve and maintain good mental health in times of disaster.
- Here is a link to the Arizona Psychological Association’s list of resources, ideas, suggestions, and exercises on how to improve and maintain good mental health in Covid.
- Many of you shared concerns about what individuals can do about Racial Justice . Here is a cool list of ideas that anyone can employ, not just the “white people” in the title.
- I found a new podcost on Covid-19 put out by the American Psychological Association (APA). This week’s title and URL below: COVID-19 and the Loss of Rituals, Formation of New Ones with Michael Norton, PhD
- Here is an interesting article on on-line therapy from Washington Post.
- Here is an excellent “listen” from Tara Brach, another expert on Mindfulness, discussing how to deal with anxiety:
- Mindful Self-Care Scale. Please let me know if you would like a copy of Cook-Cottone & Guyker’s scale that will help you be aware and attend to your self-care. Mindful Self-care is protective in stressful times, such as now. Please print, read, fill out, and use the last page to summarize.
- Seeing Similarities. When things seem so very, very different and those differences feel threatening. It can be very helpful to pay close attention to the things that are the same and you can count on: The sun always rises, the robins show up same time each spring, you can have some kind of contact with a loved one or friend every day, you can keep your schedule as it always has been…..you get the picture. It is grounding.
- Calming/ Strengthening Affirmations. Breathe deep and choose a thought that makes you feel stronger (these are a compilation from some of my friends: Being Comfortable in the Unknown Freedom from Knowing Imperturbability in Uncertainty Resilience and Gratitude
- Invest in something positive. Here are some articles on gardening:
- The Mindfulness App that I am recommending is My Life (Previously Stop, Breathe & Think). It is free and has been recommended by both the APA and the VA. Please try it for a personalized daily check-in on your physical, mental, and emotional well-being and suggestions for mindfulness exercises.
- For those of you who are experiencing challenges in relationship arena. Here are two articles on Social Distancing from an Introverted Perspective and Social Distancing from an Extroverted Perspective (downloaded from CNN)
- Self care Check up: Here is a video of mental health self-care to check out