Blog: How to protect your mental health

One-third of respondents in a new McKinsey survey said their return to work has had a negative impact on their mental health while almost half of those who have not yet returned anticipate negative mental health impacts.^[i]

Why is a return to what was once normal so stressful?

According to Dr. Aderonke Pederson, a mental health specialist at Northwestern University‘s Feinberg School of Medicine, it‘s because We‘ve had a change of routine, at least to some degree, for most people for over a year now. I think it‘s very expected that people will have some hesitation around what it looks like to return to work or school. Dr. Pederson also noted that public health and government messaging has emphasized that home is the safest place for people to be throughout the pandemic, so it is to be expected that many people feel anxious about returning to the workplace.^[ii]

Karestan Koenen, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has some advice: Go slowly.

We‘ve all gone through a tremendous amount of change and stress this past year, in lockdowns, in changes to the way we work, live, in every aspect of our lives. And now we‘re being asked to change back. It‘s a time of tremendous change, and it‘s good to remind ourselves that all change is stressful.  

Koenen said, it‘s also important, however, for individuals to recognize that avoidance enhances anxiety, so it‘s best that – as long as infection rates remain low – they push their boundaries, even if, at first, they may feel heightened anxiety.^[iii]

But to push your boundaries safely you need to know your boundaries