Life and Stress Relief in the Age of Coronavirus

We are living in historic times, interesting times.   There is a Chinese curse which says “May one live in interesting times.”  Boring times are healthier, safer.  Interesting times are so very stressful! 

As mental health is an essential service, our office will remain open as long as possible with security measures to minimize community spread of Covid-19:

1. Only one family at a time is allowed in our office and waiting room. There will be no overlap with other families or clients. Appointments are scheduled 3 hours apart, allowing 30 minutes or more between sessions to clean each station before receiving our next client. Also, our waiting room and stations are cleaned daily with EPA-approved sanitizing solutions.
2. Each client is provided their own seat covering and pens for sign in.
3. Everyone is encouraged to wash their hands before and after sessions
4. We offer online consults for people who cannot come to our office.

What is Anxiety and Stress?

Anxiety arises from a feeling or sense of threat which may emerge when we focus too much on ourselves.  Stress can lead to anxiety.  Our brain expects a community, to live and work among 150 faces or so, all pulling together in unity for the best interests of ourselves and our community. Excessive focus on oneself often leads to anxiety in trying times.

When we focus on ourselves, the reptile base of our brain dominates our thinking.  A reptile has no sense of future, no sense of community.  It orients against others instead of values others.  Our mammalian and human areas of our brain value others, value attachment and community, and these areas – the neocortex in particular -- allows us to be members of a group, a team, a community. We need a healthy balance between the reptile and human tiers of our brain, and this is where neurotherapy can help. We can train a brain towards this balance, eliminate panic and anxiety and stress.

As we cannot train every member of our community, especially those who are sheltering in place, here are some suggestions to balance our brains through behavior:

1. Develop proxies.  The more interest you have, the less egocentric one will be, the low anxiety and stress. Proxies refer to stories, sport teams, drama, and other interests where we support other members of society in success.
2. Develop a new hobby. Youtube provides endless videos teaching new hobbies and interests such as chess and its many variants, painting (e.g., Bob Ross), card games such as Spades, Hearts, Euchre, and learning about any topic on earth from astronomy to history to psychology. Thousands of TED talks and religious sermons are available. Learn a new language.
3. Stay positive! Laugh more. Listen to more music!   Youtube is also a great source of comedy and music, Hulu a source for bingeing entertainment, and other online services.
4. Stay in touch with friends, family, and colleagues.  Virtual groups are easy to create and access through Facebook, Whatsapp, Linkedin, and numerous services.
5. Stay busy. Our government supports amazing resources online such as PubMed, which contains millions of peer-reviewed articles on health and related concerns. Endless books and articles are available via Google, Bing, or other services. 
6. When interacting with the non-virtual physical world, we suggested using Kleenex to open doors and touch surfaces used by the public.  If Kleenex are not available, we suggest using one’s non-dominant hand (left hand for most people) to touch door handles and elevator buttons. This way, if you need to touch your face, which is unadvised but will happen often in some of us, use your dominant hand, and wash your hands as soon as you can.

We are grateful for the opportunity to help and contribute in improving the quality of life of our community. We love Monrovia, the best place to live and work in the world in our humble opinions!