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How to Cope With Depression in the Post-Pandemic Recovery

How to Cope With Depression in the Post-Pandemic Recovery

Last updated on: June 16, 2021 at 7:45 am by Gleb Tsipursky

How to Cope With Depression in the Post-Pandemic Recovery 2021-06-16T07:45:14-04:00 Gleb Tsipursky

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Are you, or someone you know, struggling to cope with depression as we’re transitioning out of the pandemic?

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Or simply read onward!

What you or they are going through isn’t as uncommon as you might think. According to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, depression has been three times higher during this pandemic than it was previously.

The researchers also discovered that lower income groups had an increased risk of getting depressed compared with higher income groups.

This puts more pressure on those who are already worried about, or dissatisfied with, their professional lives. It’s a vicious cycle when we’re all trying to balance our personal and work lives with our mental health. Fortunately, there are strategies that can help you survive and thrive during the post-pandemic recovery.

The Slippery Slope That Is Depression

Perhaps it started out with you feeling a bit more tired than usual. At some point, maybe you started to lose interest in things you used to enjoy. Perhaps you’re having trouble sleeping or, on the flip side, you’ve started sleeping more than you used to.

Depression can manifest in different ways. While some might feel overwhelmed and become increasingly sad, some might think they’re handling things relatively well, only to find that they can’t focus on simple tasks.

There is a whole range of physical, emotional, and mental changes when you’re experiencing depression. One crucial thing you must do is to pay attention to these changes and be ready to take action.

What’s the Best Way to Cope With Depression?

Regardless of the everyday pressure we need to deal with in our personal and work lives, we have to remember that human beings have needs that must be fulfilled in order to function. This means that you must identify and address any mental blindspots in yourself around depression, in yourself or others, during the post-pandemic recovery,.

You might have heard of Abraham Maslow’s theory of human motivation and the pyramid of needs based on his work. Maslow’s theory included “self-actualization,” or needs that help us achieve our full potential through personal growth.

More recent research by psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman has redefined self-actualization as combining exploration, love, and purpose. A good approach to adapting to the new abnormal in the post-pandemic recovery, and addressing any depressive symptoms, is evaluating your life through the lens of these needs and ensuring that you satisfy them.

A large part of the depression that people may experience comes from refusing to recognize that our needs have changed. We can’t simply go back to the way we used to live our lives after we get vaccinated. Your own and other people’s habits, norms, values, preferences, and goals changed, sometimes dramatically, during the many, many months of the pandemic. You have to recognize that the previous way we fulfilled our needs do not work during our current environment.

Our needs for exploration, love, and purpose remain urgent and paramount. However, we have to learn about these changes within yourself and others. Then, we need to address these in ways that take into account our current circumstances. Here are some ways we can effectively tackle and meet our needs:

Exploration

We have a need to explore, learn, and understand the world. Exploration in this sense is driven not by fear and anxiety—such as the watching of regular news briefings on the pandemic—but by the thrill of discovery and curiosity about the novel, the challenging, and the unknown.

Depending on your vaccination status and the number of cases in your state, you might still be staying at home. Still, you have tools to help you address depressive symptoms in the post-pandemic recovery.

Studies have shown that physical activities can help ward off depression. You can sign up for online exercise classes. You could also safely exercise outdoors and have access to places where you can maintain social distancing, you can also look into exercising in green spaces. These can include urban parks, nature reserves, and wilderness environments. Research has shown that spending time in such places has a positive effect on mental health.

Love

This second aspect of self-actualization can be manifested by expressing love. The first step, of course, is to express this love towards yourself. If you feel overwhelmed by depression or think that you already need help from a professional, one of the self-care acts that you can do is to look into online therapy and tele-psychology, which boomed during the pandemic. You can even check with your company if this is something that they can provide or facilitate.

Next is bestowing love on other people. This means making a positive impact on the lives of others and building up your social connections. Stronger social support networks help address depression.

You can express this love towards your existing relationships. Surprise your romantic partner with an unexpected date night. Perhaps you can host socially distanced outdoor parties for your friends to strengthen bonds. And if you’re all vaccinated, you can even do indoor parties! You can even volunteer to provide virtual companionship to lonely elder strangers.

Purpose

The other critical aspect of self-actualization involves developing, refining, and pursuing your sense of meaning and purpose. In the context of the post-pandemic recovery, it’s even more important to proactively seek a sense that you are contributing to something you’re passionate about that’s bigger than yourself, a personal mission of service that offers you fulfillment and contentment.

Some people might find their sense of purpose in taking care of their family and friends, and that’s fine. You might decide to reach out to struggling colleagues, eventually bridging the gap between personal and work lives and forming deeper friendships along the way. You might even tap into your network to help those who’ve lost their jobs find a new one.

Or maybe you could focus on improving your local community. Whatever you choose to do, you should regularly evaluate how much it contributes to your sense of purpose. Revise your activities to help further develop that sense within yourself.

Conclusion

Dealing with depression in the post-pandemic recovery means doing an honest evaluation of your activities and connections. Make sure your needs for exploration, love, and purpose are being met consistently. Taking action now—not later—will help you improve and maintain your mental health during these challenging times.

Key Take-Away

To cope with depression in the post-pandemic recovery, find new ways of fulfilling your needs for exploration, love, and meaning and purpose…> Click to tweet

Questions to Consider (please share your answers below)

What have you done to cope with depression and other mood challenges in the pandemic and the post-pandemic recovery?
How can you better fulfill your needs for exploration, love, and meaning and purpose in this time?
How will you change your behaviors based on reading this article?

Image credit: Pixabay/flavoiopantera7

Originally Published at Disaster Avoidance Experts on May 18, 2021.

Bio: Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is an internationally-renowned thought leader in future-proofing and cognitive bias risk management. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-proofing consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts, which specializes in helping forward-looking leaders avoid dangerous threats and missed opportunities. A best-selling author, he wrote Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters (Career Press, 2019), The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships (New Harbinger, 2020), and Resilience: Adapt and Plan for the New Abnormal of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic (Changemakers Books, 2020). His writing was translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, and other languages. He was featured in over 550 articles and 450 interviews in prominent venues. These include Fortune, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, CBS News, Business Insider, Government Executive, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Time, Fast Company, and elsewhere. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for mid-size and large organizations ranging from Aflac to Xerox. It also comes from over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist, including 7 as a professor at Ohio State University. You can contact him at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, LinkedIn, Twitter @gleb_tsipursky, Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky, Medium @dr_gleb_tsipursky, and gain free access to his “Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace” and his “Wise Decision Maker Course” with 8 video-based modules.

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About Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

Known as the Disaster Avoidance Expert, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is on a mission to protect leaders from dangerous judgment errors known as cognitive biases, which devastate bottom lines and bring down high-flying careers. His expertise and passion is developing the most effective and profitable decision-making strategies, based on pragmatic business experience and cutting-edge behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience, to empower leaders to avoid business disasters and maximize their bottom lines. You can learn more here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/glebtsipursky/ The bestselling author of several books, Dr. Tsipursky is best known for his national bestseller on avoiding disasters and achieving success in business and other life areas, The Truth Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. His next book, Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters, is forthcoming with Career Press in November 2019. It’s the first book to focus on cognitive biases in business leadership and reveal how leaders can overcome these dangerous judgment errors effectively. After that he’s publishing The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships with New Harbinger in April 2020, the first book to focus on cognitive biases in professional and personal relationships and illustrate how we can defeat these dangerous judgment errors in our relationships. See more information here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/author-page/ Dr. Tsipursky’s cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 400 articles he published and over 350 interviews he gave to popular venues that include Fast Company, CBS News, Time, Scientific American, Psychology Today, The Conversation, Business Insider, Government Executive, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Inc. Magazine, and many others, as you can see here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/media/ Dr. Tsipursky's expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, speaking, and training for businesses and nonprofits. He serves as the CEO of the boutique consulting, coaching, and training firm Disaster Avoidance Experts, which uses a proprietary methodology based on groundbreaking research to help leaders and organizations maximize their bottom lines by addressing potential threats, seizing unexpected opportunities, and resolving persistent personnel problems. His clients include Aflac, Balance Employment Assistance Provider, Edison Welding Institute, Fifth Third Bank, Honda, IBM, International Coaches Federation, Ohio Hospitals Association, National Association of Women Business Owners, Sentinel Real Estate, The Society for Human Resource Management, RealManage, The Columbus Foundation, Vistage, Wells Fargo, the World Wildlife Fund, and over a hundred others who achieve outstanding client results. You can learn more about that here: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/about Dr. Tsipursky also has a strong research and teaching background in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience with over 15 years in academia, including 7 years as a professor at the Ohio State University and before that a Fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His dozens of peer-reviewed academic publications include journals such as Behavior and Social Issues, Journal of Social and Political Psychology, and International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy. His civic service includes over 4 years as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Intentional Insights, an educational nonprofit advocating for research-based decision-making in all life areas. He also co-founded the Pro-Truth Pledge, a civic project to promote truthfulness and integrity for individual professionals and leaders in the same way that the Better Business Bureau serves as a commitment for businesses. He serves on the Advisory Board of Canonical Debate Lab and Planet Purpose, and is on the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal Behavior and Social Issues. A highly in-demand international speaker, Dr. Tsipursky has over two decades of professional speaking experience across North America, Europe, and Australia. He gets top marks from audiences for his highly facilitative, interactive, and humor-filled speaking style and the way he thoroughly customizes speeches for diverse audiences. Meeting planners describe Dr. Tsipursky as "very relatable," as "a snap to work with," and as someone who "does everything that you would want a speaker to do." Drawing on best practices in adult learning, his programs address the wide spectrum of diverse learning styles, as attested by enthusiastic client testimonials and references. He regularly shares the stage with prominent leaders, for example recently speaking on a roundtable panel with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Elhadj As Sy, Chancellor of Austria Brigitte Bierlein, CEO of Penguin Random House Markus Dohle, and billionaire philanthropist and Chair of the Bertelsmann Management Company Liz Mohn. You can learn more about his speaking and see videos here: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/speaking/ Dr. Tsipursky earned his PhD in the History of Behavioral Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, his M.A. at Harvard University in 2004, and his B.A. at New York University in 2002. He lives in and travels from Columbus, OH. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, hiking, and playing with his two cats, and most importantly, he makes sure to spend abundant quality time with his wife to avoid disasters in his personal life. Learn more about him at https://DisasterAvoidanceExperts.com/GlebTsipursky, contact him at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, follow him on Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky and Twitter @gleb_tsipursky. Most importantly, help yourself avoid disasters and maximize success, and get a free copy of the “Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace,” by signing up for his free Wise Decision Maker Course at https:// DisasterAvoidanceExperts.com/Subscribe You can read more about the author here.

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