50 Scientific American, March 2021about financial relief programs you might be eligible for.
This kind of brainstorming requires open-mindedness about
“things you’re willing to learn and try,” explains Deepa Ramana-
than-Elion, a rehabilitation psychologist at the National In -
trep id Center of Excellence at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, who
works with military service members who have traumatic brain
injuries. “If you continue in a sort of rigid way of thinking, it’s
going to be very difficult for you to adapt to a changing environ-
ment, no matter what the situation is—whether it’s COVID or
something else,” she says. “You really need to be able to adapt
and be flexible.” That might mean considering jobs you would
not have considered in the past or asking people you would not
normally reach out to for help or support.
The idea is to think of problems as obstacles you can over-
come (at least partially) rather than as insurmountable hurdles
you can do nothing about. There are aspects of this pandemic we
cannot control—but by focusing on the things we can tweak at
least a bit and by thinking of ourselves as resilient and adaptable,
we will do better, Ali says. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, which
focuses on helping individuals identify, understand and change
their thinking and behavior patterns in these ways, has consis-
tently been shown to boost mental health. A 2020 study found
that Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy im proved symp-
toms in people suffering from either anxiety or depression.
Ali often thinks of her father and his family, who are from
Somalia and have faced many hardships. “They have absolutely
nothing, but they have this strong sense of resilience,” she says.
“If they feel like they can get through it, they can get through it.
So trying to cultivate that in people, regardless of resources—
having them see that ‘you can do this’—I think is very, very,
very important.”
FIND NEW WAYS TO CONNECT
seekiNg out others can help, too. Researchers at the RAND Cor-
poration found, based on interviews done after the 9/11 terror-
ist attacks, that the most common way adults dealt with their
distress was by connecting with friends and family.
The trouble now is that staying safe during this pandemic
strains those connections. It often requires physical distance
from loved ones, which means people are forced to give up
what they emotionally need the most. In a 2015 analysis of 70
studies, researchers at Brigham Young University found that
people who reported feeling lonely were 26 percent more likely
to die over the next seven years, on average, than those who
were not lonely. “There is a consistent and growing—and highly
replicated across context and across countries—literature onthe detrimental effects of social isolation and loneliness and
the mitigating or positive well-being effects of social support,”
says Courtney Welton-Mitchell, a psychologist at the Colorado
School of Public Health and at the Natural Hazards Center at
the University of Colorado Boulder. (If you are feeling extremely
isolated or are having thoughts of suicide, please call the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.)
If you are older and alone, connecting with others can be
hard, especially if you are not tech-savvy enough to link up over a
computer or a smartphone. Welton-Mitchell suggests reaching
out to family members and friends regularly by phone, e-mail or
snail mail and perhaps setting up regular phone calls or physi-
cally distanced visits. You can also sign up for Caring Calls, a ser-
vice organized by the nonprofit organization DOROT, which
facilitates once- or twice-weekly telephone conversations be -
tween older adults and volunteers. To sign up by phone, call
1-212-769-2850. If you are comfortable using the Internet, you can
sign up for a service such as Big & Mini or Eldera, either of which
connects older adults with younger people through video calls.
Working toward a meaningful cause—even from the safety of
your home—can also improve emotional health. It helps to “feel
like you’re committing to something that’s greater than yourself,”
says William Garmoe, a neuropsychologist
who works with Ali at Med Star National
Rehabilitation Hospital. In a 2007 paper, a
group of 20 international disaster psychol-
ogists analyzed research on the most im -
portant psychological needs people have
in the midst of a disaster. They re ported
the top five are to feel safe, calm, self-effi-
cacious, socially connected and hopeful.
When people engage in activities that ben-
efit others, they may be able to check off
three of those needs—feeling more useful,
connected and hopeful about the future. If
you are not sure where to start, search VolunteerMatch.org or
Idealist.org for local or virtual opportunities.
Virtual therapy provides another means of connection.
Since the pandemic began, federal and state legislation has
loosened a number of restrictions on the use of telemedicine,
so it is now easier for people to access mental health services
on line. Finding a therapist can be difficult if you do not have
health insurance or the means to pay, but free or low-cost
options do exist: Opencounseling.com, for instance, allows you
to search for free or low-cost therapists in addition to those
who accept insurance or who can be paid for out of pocket.
One key benefit of therapy is the close relationship between
the patient and the provider, which fosters a strong sense of be -
longing. “You’re meeting with somebody with whom you have a
real relationship—this is a person who cares about you, seeks to
understand you, is warm and accepting,” says Bruce Wampold,
a professor emeritus of counseling psychology at the University
of Wisconsin–Madison. “And for many people, this is particu-
larly healing.”
Therapy can also help by nudging people toward construc-
tive ways of coping with stress and anxiety. In their November
2020 study, Prout and her colleagues surveyed adults about
what strategies they used to make themselves feel better during
the pandemic. They found that people who connected with andIf you are older and alone, connecting
with others can be hard, especially if
you are not tech-savvy. You can sign up
for Caring Calls, which facilitates weekly
phone conversations between older
adults and volunteers.