How to act in this situation and how you can help, experts from the Mindly platform tell.

Stress becomes a powerful trigger for a person to experience certain feelings. Everyone is individual, but usually we consistently experience the following states:

• Confusion
• Anxiety, fear, panic
• malice
• Euphoria
• Depression

It would be nice if everything ended with depression, and we gradually returned to normal life. But, unfortunately, we are moving in a circle – and after depression comes confusion again. Our task here is to break out of this loop. How to do it?

Master mental hygiene

Mental hygiene is a system of scientific knowledge aimed at maintaining and strengthening mental health in society. It has always been important, but especially now.

Currently, “a step to the right, a step to the left – depression”, so you should take control of the situation and introduce certain restrictions into your life that will help the psyche recover.

Set a limit on news

The constant scrolling of the tape gives us the illusion of control. We do not notice how we absorb a lot of traumatic information. Determine specific hours when you will read the news, and do not go to news sites or telegram channels at other times.

Control other people’s influence on you

All of us now would like to be military experts, but this is not so. Therefore, such discussions and conjectures can do more harm than help. The fact is that when talking, we can unconsciously adopt the mood of a person. Often it is demoralizing, which means it returns to depression or apathy again.

Follow your thinking

Each of us independently “colors” certain events, this is how the psyche is built. Based on this, we ourselves can make sure that the colors are not very black. Although it is difficult now, try to let go of emotions and consciously analyze the information and, most importantly, evaluate it.

Notice the positive

War, as a phenomenon, is bad, so it is difficult for us to look for something that will please us in it. And it doesn’t have to be done. Look for the positive not in the news from the front, but in your own life: a kind barista who prepared a delicious flat white, a child’s smile, help from friends, and so on.

Take back control of your life

Mastering mental hygiene will help you get yourself out of a depressive state, and therefore the next task is to remember how we lived before the war: we worked, watched movies, went to the park and met with friends, and much more. If you are now relatively safe, then:

• work. This may be your usual job, which was even before the war. If you have lost it or work has not resumed yet, look for something new or help volunteer organizations. Many left, someone quit, so companies need those who will help restore the country’s economy;
• communicate. People treat people even if they are not psychotherapists. Communication helps to understand that we are not ourselves, so wounds heal. The main thing here is not to adopt the destructive emotions of others, but to remain true to your feelings;
• look for what gives strength. To survive everything that happens, you need to have a resource. Unfortunately, it does not last forever, so stocks need to be replenished periodically. In all these are different things or rituals: reading, art, communication, sports, shopping, meditation, etc.;
• work with a psychotherapist. If you can, find a therapist who will make it easier for you to walk this path. It is difficult for some people to put their psyche in order on their own, and if a certain problem is not worked out, then in the future it can negatively affect the quality of life.

Of course, to all the advice, it is almost impossible to return to the life that we all had while there is a war in the background. But we cannot end the war if the whole country is depressed. Therefore, we must do everything possible to restore strength as quickly as possible and win!

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