How People with PTSD Can Take Care of Themselves During This Pandemic

Unprecedented times—it’s the term of the year, and for good reason. COVID-19 has drastically changed the world, and its impact has affected nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Although everyone is struggling to adjust, people with PTSD may be facing unique challenges during this pandemic.

If you’re part of the 8% of the population struggling with PTSD, there are ways you can take care of yourself during these trying times. Let’s get into what you need to know.

How COVID-19 Can Trigger PTSD Symptoms

Although the changes brought about by the pandemic have affected everyone, people with PTSD may especially struggle with:

• Feelings of loneliness and isolation due to social distancing.
• Financial distress due to job loss, furloughs, or job uncertainty.
• Increased stress related to working from home or taking care of children at home.
• Difficulties in maintaining usual self-care (e.g., gyms are closed).
• Increased fear about contracting the virus or loved ones contracting the virus.
• Fatigue due to excess media exposure.

The ongoing pandemic can trigger PTSD in numerous ways. If you are a health care provider offering frontline services, the potentially life-threatening aspects of that situation can increase your risk of experiencing heightened distress and emotional instability. If you are an employee in one of the other essential industries, you also may be facing increased anxiety, depression, or resentment—all of which can trigger more PTSD symptoms.

Even for those with PTSD who are able to stay home, the uncertainties of the current situation may make the world seem more threatening than it did just a few months ago.

Any of these struggles can trigger common PTSD symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance behaviors, or irritability.

Accept Your Emotions

You may be experiencing a whirlwind of emotions right now: it’s okay to feel nervous and uncertain, and it’s normal to feel angry, guilty, or sad. When life disruptions occur, they can alter our typical routines and our mood. Likewise, feeling out of control can trigger PTSD symptoms.

While it may seem paradoxical, accepting difficult emotions often makes them feel less severe. If you try to avoid, rationalize, suppress, or minimize your feelings, you are invalidating your own experience. Repeating this pattern can perpetuate distress and low self-esteem.

Practice Challenging Negative Thoughts

People with PTSD often experience intense, negative, intrusive thoughts like:

• I am not safe.
• I can’t trust other people.
• I am doomed to more trauma.
• I am incapable of protecting myself.
• The world is dangerous.

Stress often impacts the frequency and magnitude of these thoughts. Therefore, during this pandemic, you may be feeling even more powerless and helpless.

Recognize Your Cognitive Distortions

To challenge negative thoughts, you need to recognize cognitive distortions. Some common kinds of cognitive distortions include:

• Dichotomous thinking: You see things in only two ways. Things are good or bad, perfect or failures, right or wrong. There is no room for a middle ground.
• Catastrophizing: You assume the worst outcome will happen.
• Emotional reasoning: You believe your negative emotions reflect the truth of how things really are (“I feel helpless, so I really am helpless”).
• Personalization: You assume responsibility for people, problems, or events that aren’t in your control. Or, instead of assuming responsibility when you should, you displace it onto other circumstances.
• Mental filter: You extract a specific negative moment and dwell on it, which makes you unable to focus on anything else.

Practice Examining the Evidence

If you want to think less negatively, you must be willing to reframe your thoughts. This means challenging and reinterpreting the messages you automatically internalize. Consider examining the evidence by asking yourself:

• What would I tell a close friend if they were struggling with this thought?
• Am I 100% certain this outcome will happen?
• If it did happen, how would I cope?
• How is this thought helping or harming me right now?

Increase Your Daily Mindfulness

Mindfulness helps us stay present. People struggling with PTSD often feel “stuck” in the past, while simultaneously terrified of the future. Because they constantly feel torn between both states, they rarely enjoy the current moment.

Mindfulness work could help you release some of the stress associated with this pandemic. Practice integrating more meditation, yoga, or simple deep breathing throughout the day. When you notice yourself spiraling into negative thoughts or feelings, pause. Reflect on how you can draw yourself back to the moment. Allow yourself to take as much time as you need to feel grounded.

Seek Professional Support

If you’re struggling right now, therapy can help you feel supported and safe during this time. PTSD symptoms, if left untreated, can progressively worsen. Therapy offers compassion, guidance, and practical coping skills for managing your distress.

Many therapists are providing telehealth services during this pandemic to ensure the continued health and safety of both staff and patients. Find a therapist who specializes in trauma-informed care. Trauma-informed care refers to a philosophy of acknowledgment of the role that trauma has played in an individual’s life.

If you feel like you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, contact 911. Local law enforcement can ensure your safety.