How To Tell If You Need To Start Doing Online Therapy

Rarely leaving the house, doom-scrolling through social media, experiencing mood swings and insomnia, engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms … the venn diagram of “daily life during the coronavirus pandemic” and “depression” may seem like a perfect circle.

At a time when everyone is feeling the toll of a global health and economic crisis, keeping on top of the particulars of your own mental well-being can seem irrelevant. Still, there’s a difference between experiencing sadness about the current state of the world or feeling a little off because of a disrupted routine versus struggling to function on a daily basis, or even giving in to self-destructive tendencies.

There may be days, weeks or months of lockdown left, and it’s essential to preserve your mental health. Here’s how to check in on yourself and know when you might need professional help through virtual therapy:

The first step to figuring out if you’re really not doing OK is to get in the habit of paying attention to how you’re feeling, said Leslie Becker-Phelps, a psychologist and the author of ”Bouncing Back From Rejection.”

Becker-Phelps offered an acronym to guide this self-awareness: STEAM, which stands for sensations, thoughts, emotions, actions and mentalizing (an attempt to understand and empathize with your feelings).

The first prompts a check-in with your body to gauge its stress response.

Becker-Phelps suggested asking yourself questions such as: “Is my heart beating fast? Am I feeling nauseated? Am I having trouble breathing?”

Then, take stock of your thoughts and emotions by noting the difference between having an occasional negative thought or concern and “getting tied up in negative thinking or future anxieties, and you’re not able to think about any of the positive things or pull yourself out of it,” Becker-Phelps told HuffPost.

Assess how your actions are affecting yourself and others. If you’re lashing out at loved ones or thinking about causing yourself harm, that’s a big sign you need to talk with someone.