Ida Karayan PsyD, LMFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Cleveland Clinic researchers have found a significant increase in patients experiencing stress cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress cardiomyopathy occurs in response to physical or emotional distress and causes dysfunction or failure in the heart muscle. Patients typically experience symptoms similar to a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, but usually do not have acutely blocked coronary arteries. "Th...e COVID-19 pandemic has brought about multiple levels of stress in people's lives across the country and world. People are not only worried about themselves or their families becoming ill, they are dealing with economic and emotional issues" said Ankur Kalra, M.D., a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who led the study. "The stress can have physical effects on our bodies and our hearts, as evidenced by the increasing diagnosis of stress cardiomyopathy we are experiencing." For those who feel overwhelmed by stress, it's important to reach out to your healthcare provider. Exercise, meditation and connecting with family and friends, while maintaining physical distance and safety measures, can also help relieve anxiety." See more

People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have shared that they continue to suffer from anxiety and stress when they are preparing to leave their homes as they try to cope with their feelings of being marked by COVID-19. Somehow, their prior diagnosis and recovery aren't appreciated as "triumphs" by others, as many experience being treated differently than before their illness and some have shared that family and friends are "different" around them, even via phone and video calls. Stigmas can leave lasting psychological damage that feels like a virtual prison and denigrates the self-worth of people who are already dealing with challenging wellness concerns. Educate yourself and others to help minimize stigma throughout your community and further afield.

As psychological consequences of COVID-19 are emerging, information about mental health in SARS and MERS is useful, if not directly applicable, due to their similarity with the COVID-19 coronavirus. A recent meta-analysis in Lancet Psychiatry described psychiatric symptoms in those harbingers. As with SARS and MERS, common symptoms of post COVID-19 issues may include: confusion, depression, anxiety, memory problems, insomnia. The notion of a virus which causes depression, anxiety, and even self-destructive behavior is disturbing. By monitoring closely and planning, there is hope to mitigate the negative impact significantly while also learning for future pandemics and disasters.

Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new University College London led study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia. In the study of people aged over 55 researchers found 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's. Lead author Dr Natalie Marchant said: "Depression and anxiety in mid-life and old age are a...lready known to be risk factors for dementia. Here, we found that certain thinking patterns implicated in depression and anxiety could be an underlying reason why people with those disorders are more likely to develop dementia. We hope that our findings could be used to develop strategies to lower people's risk of dementia by helping them to reduce their negative thinking patterns." See more

In this interview with Taguhi Vardanyan I'm joined by psychiatrist Dr. Elen Hunanyan in a discussion about mental health during -19. Watch for tips on keeping your mood up while staying home!

Researchers at Stanford Medicine are working to find out what proportion of Californians have already had COVID-19. The new study could help policymakers make more informed decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the senior fellow with Stanford's Hoover Institute Victor Davis Hanson: "It is possible COVID-19 has been spreading among Californians since the fall when doctors reported an early flu season in the state. During that same time, California was welcomi...ng as many as 8,000 Chinese nationals. Some of those visitors even arriving on direct flights from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China. If Californians were exposed earlier than the rest of the country to COVID-19 we may have had a chance to build up some herd immunity to the disease. We won't know if that is the case until results from the Stanford Medicine study come back." See more

According to an article published on BBC Future, "when we fear contagion, we tend to be harsher when judging a breach of loyalty (such as an employee who badmouths his company) or when we see someone who fails to respect an authority (such as a judge). Those particular incidents would do nothing to spread disease of course, but by flouting convention, they have given a signal that they may break other more relevant rules that are there to keep disease at bay. Fears of contagion lead us to become more conformist and less accepting of eccentricity. Our moral judgments become harsher and our sexual attitudes become more conservative."

My video on Teen Depression is now available on my YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/e9NZxwqN1n0

My short video on how to beat depression is now available on my YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/5lfg5F96UT8

My recent interview on how to reduce anxiety is now available on YouTube. https://youtu.be/wPLE7BqrpR8

Resilience, the capacity to adapt and recover from life-changing situations, is one of the most important abilities that we need to live through the current crisis. Here are some great strategies that can help you increase your capacity for resilience: - - Connect with people that validate your feelings. - - Take care of your body. - - Practice mindfulness and avoid negative outlets such as alcohol and drugs. - - Develop some realistic goals and do something regularly even if it seems like a small accomplishment. - - Help others. - - Accept the change as part of life. - - Maintain hopeful outlook. #resilience #stress #stresshelp #stressmanagement #anxiety #anxietysupport #anxiatyhelp #anxietyrelief #anxietysupport #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #mindfulness #mindfullness #mindfulife #strong #strongertogether