HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE MANAGE LOW MOOD AND DEPRESSION DURING COVID

HELPING ADOLESCENTS MANAGE LOW MOOD AND DEPRESSION DURING COVID-19
We are at an exceedingly arduous time; COVID-19 is like an invisible enemy that has taken away all
our liberties. It has, in all ways possible, disrupted our daily lives. Lockdown measures by
governments around the world have changed the way we live. It is understandable that young people
are anxious about what the future holds for them. Just a couple of months ago, they were looking
forward to a summer of fun and relaxation as school was about to end. Who would have thought
that this would happen?
Some of us even experienced a sudden loss of a loved one. A loved one who, only last Christmas, was
full of life, full of dreams for the future. Some are facing a bleak future and have lost their jobs. Some
lost a loved one and a job.
While measures are being put in place to ensure the physical well-being of everyone, we must also
consider mental health. There will be any people who will find it difficult to rise from the ashes of
COVID-19, young and old, and will probably experience low mood and depression during this
pandemic.
Experiencing some difficulty is normal among young people and adults alike. Adjusting to these
circumstances is hard, especially with the speed in which everything happened; nobody among us
could prepare for it. While feeling low and distressed now and then may be common, being at this
state every day that lasts for weeks could be a sign of depression. Either this may have been present
even before the pandemic, or it may have developed in the past few weeks.
Depression is a debilitating mental condition that can affect a young person’s life in all aspects,
whether it is at home, school, and friends. It is a serious condition that needs therapy or other forms
of treatment. For more information about the symptoms of depression, you may contact the New
National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) Crisis Hotlines–0917 899 8727.
Part 1
BRING STRUCTURE TO YOUR DAY
COVID-19 has disrupted our normal routines. Routines are an important part of our lives as it gives
structure to our daily activities. You may find that your eating patterns have changes, as well as your
sleeping and exercising patterns.

Despite all this, it is still important to build another routine for yourself right now. This will help you
feel a sense of normality even at these times and will make you feel engaged. The activities could be
as simple as the following:
- Setting the alarm clock so you can wake up at the same time every morning.
- Taking a shower and dressing up in the morning, just like any other normal day.
- Give your mood a boost by wearing your favorite clothes.
You can also set a routine for eating, sleeping, and exercising, in case it has been disrupted. The body
knows when to expect each of these activities. It tells you when to eat, and before bedtime it knows
when to release melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep.
It may be helpful to create new routines now that your daily structure has changed. If you are
studying or working at home, set aside a common study or work area, and set a regular start to
finish. Then you can add in more activities to make your day well balanced. Keep in mind that things
may be different from now on, so it is better to be prepared.
Try pursuing different kinds of activities. Spread these activities out during the day:
- Read a book.
- Learn something new. There are a lot of free online courses right now.
- Re-connect with family and friends.
- Relaxation.
- Hobbies, new and old.
These could help. Be as creative as you want to be.
How to plan your time
Planning your next activities for the day can start as early as the night before. Think of what you
would like to do. Thinks about what work you will need to do, how to do it, what would be your next
fun activities be, who can you connect with, what exercises would you do next, and so on. After a
few days, reflect on what you have done, and how these activities have impacted you. You may also
think about what has not worked for you and why? Maybe you can discuss this with the family.

Part 3
Connecting with others
Isolation does not mean we cannot connect with our friends. Of course, we still can, albeit
differently. This is especially awfully hard for young people as it is at this moment of their lives where
they are starting to experience the value of being with their peers. They form friendships at this point
in their lives.
Therefore, maintaining regular connections with classmates and friends is critical, no matter that the
only way to do it is so different from what we are used to. Good thing that we do not have to go to
the post office to send mail, or to dial on the telephone. The internet allows virtual meetups. We can
be with friends whether individually or as a group. In this way, you can also support each other.
Maintaining this form of communication, though less personal, will still give a sense of normalcy in
our lives.
While technology has helped us connect better with friends and family, it has also been a source of
negativity. Resist the urge to check on social media and distance yourself from the negative messages
and fake news.
Now, one concern among parents is that the screen time for kids has gone out to the dogs. During the
pandemic, rules regarding screen time for kids has dissipated. Should parents worry? Well, this
should be the least of our priorities right now.
How to maintain balance.
Try to maintain balance by being connected and then putting down your gadget once you feel that all
the negativity is creeping out in social media. Find another thing to do, like exercise or read a book, or
a hobby perhaps.
Part 4
Forming pleasant sleeping habits

Sleep is vital to physical and mental health. Teenagers are susceptible to sleeping difficulties because
of the sudden changes in their bodies. Many have found a change in their sleeping habits due to
social isolation.
Tips on how to sleep soundly.
It is important to establish a good sleeping pattern. If possible, go to bed, wake up, and get out of bed
at the same times every day. While it feels nice to stay much longer in bed, this will cause your body
to go haywire. Eventually that would make it more difficult for you to get a good night’s sleep. Try to
make sure that everything in the bedroom is associated with sleeping. Do not work or study in bed.
For now, this might be difficult to do because after all, there is nowhere else to go. Other members of
your family are occupying their own spaces for now. As much as possible, go to the other parts of the
house. If this is not possible, then set up an area in your bedroom wherein you can do all the
activities you have to do to help you avoid doing all the activities in bed.
Here are some other sleeping tips:
1. Try to establish a relaxing bedtime routine for yourself. (Take a warm bath, drink some milk,
wear comfortable clothes, listen to soft music, etc.)
2. Be physically active during the day. Exercise will encourage nighttime sleepiness.
3. Avoid bright lights. Set a time limit for gadget use in your bedroom.
4. The bed should only be used for sleeping.
5. Limit your caffeine intake. Chocolates, coffee, sodas, and tea contain sizeable amounts of
caffeine and this makes it hard to sleep. Try to avoid it altogether in the afternoon and evening.
6. IF you are still tossing and turning in bed, try to go to a different room and do a quiet activity to
distract yourself. Go back to bed after 15 minutes.
Part 5
Exercise and nutrition
The body will benefit from a proper diet and exercise. When we feel sad, we tend to crave sweets
which give us a quick boost of energy. However, this also results in a quick crash in energy which will
make things much worse than when we started. Instead of sweets, try getting your energy boosts
from carbohydrates, especially complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates include whole wheat
bread, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and butternut squash, lentils, and beans.
Planning and preparing meals can be a significant family activity away from school.

A study has shown that young people with the least healthy diet are more prone to suffering from
depression than young people with healthier diets.
Similarly, exercise is an important part of daily life. Some people can still find time to do this by
walking or biking, but some cannot. It can also be challenging if you can no longer train with others in
your sport. Equally, you may not want to exercise daily. If this is the case, try looking for activities
you can do at home. Go online and you can find lots of free exercise classes. These can be cardio
exercises, strength training, or relaxation-based exercises. These activities will help you keep fit,
healthy, and will improve your mood.
Make time for fun
Try to set aside time for fun as part of your routine. You can do this at home with your family or
virtually with friends. You can play family quizzes, board games, online games, or set up challenges or
competitions. These activities will help bring back pleasure and fun to your day and may give you a
sense of accomplishment.
Right now, we are in a situation wherein we feel a bit flat and lacking in the positives. A great way to
create positive bursts is to play games just so that you and your loved ones can be silly and laugh. Use
your imagination, just like you would when you were just a small child. Play charades, make some
homemade ice cream or cookies, play hide-and-seek, or go camping in the garden.
Part 6
Modelling after adults
This part is more for the adults, but young people can read this and may find it useful.
Our kids watch us and learn from us. They pick up our ideas and habits, just like we did with our
parents when we were young. They save this information for later use. Even adolescents learn from
people around them; they are not as opposite from us as they would like to show. They do this
subtly; they might not even know that they are picking up information from us.
In this regard, we, as adults or guardians, will have to be more aware of our actions. Act in a way in
which we would like them to act.
Here are some things you can model:

1. Allow yourself to be angry, upset, afraid, or frustrated. Accept your difficult feelings and
thoughts. Know how to show this. Accepting these difficult feelings shows that it is okay to feel that
way, and it is normal.
2. Be open about your feelings and label your emotions in front of the young ones. This teaches
them the language for emotions. It also shows that it is okay to feel things.
3. Practice self-care. Not only will you have more energy to care for others, but it will show the
young people that self-care is still important even at this time.
The importance of self-care
If you ever have been in a flight, notice the safety briefings that are given before flying: the parent
who has her child with her has to put on the emergency mask first before putting one on her
child. This same principle applies here. You need to take care of yourself so that you can have
enough energy to sustain you when helping others. Otherwise, both of you might be put in harm’s
way. This will also have a positive impact on your kids, as they will see the importance of selfcare.
As parents, we want them to be able to take care of themselves too.
We would like to remove the stigma of parents putting their own needs first before their
children’s. This makes sense, especially if their children are feeling down. Without self-care, they will
struggle to help their kids. Parents need all the energy they can get.
Parents’ view of taking care of themselves
We can never stress enough the importance of parents and carers to take care of themselves. They
express guilt in having to leave their suffering child in order for them to eat out, get a massage, or
watch a movie. We will have to get rid of this belief, because we can classify it as a limiting belief; it
will not help. We will have to flip it the other way around and think about it as a crucial step in caring
for others.
Self-care activities include, but are not limited to:
1. Sleeping
2. Eating

3. Working out
4. Getting a massage
5. Watching a movie
6. Spending time with friends
7. Laughing
8. Seeking professional help
9. Saying no
10. Saying yes
CHAPTER 2
Part 1
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychological approach that encourages people to
accept their thoughts and feelings rather than pushing them away or feeling guilty about them.
ACT helps us accept what is happening. Of course, this should require lots of practice because it will
not be that easy. Then it encourages us to commit to the moment and do the best we can with the
situation.
Case Study
John is an excellent basketball player. His dream was to be on the college varsity team. He joined the
try-outs and performed well. The coach told him that he made the team. John was elated and
continued to work hard on his basketball skills. Unfortunately, in one of the team’s practices, John
fell hard and broke his leg. The doctors advised him that he could not play for a year. It shattered
John. He ran a gamut of reactions, which included:
- Feeling like life was unfair
- Blaming himself

- Blaming the coach
- Repeatedly asking why this happened
- Always thinking about the worst-case scenario
- Losing interest in school
- Always thinking how awful it was
- Staying away from anything related to basketball
John could have reacted differently.
- He could have told himself that this is upsetting and sad and it is okay to feel that way.
- Allowed himself some time to heal
- Told himself that it was nobody’s fault
- Made plans on how to get better
- Stayed up to date with the sport and his teammates
- Learnt something new
- Spent the time doing other things he loves to do
Part 2
Mindfulness
We can practice mindfulness and benefit from it now more than ever. You may have heard of it
before; it has its roots in Buddhists and Eastern traditions and has gone “mainstream”. People from
the West now come to appreciate this form of psychological therapy. Psychologists are one in saying
that mindfulness can be beneficial in preventing depression in person from coming back.
Mindfulness focuses on the here and now, or what is called “in the moment”. There is no use thinking
about what happened in the past because it is in the past. We cannot think about the future because
it has not happened yet. We do not have control of events in both cases. What we can control is the
present, and mindfulness can be especially useful in achieving this.
Mindfulness is a gentle way of staying connected to the present. Therapists use it as a way of
observing what comes and goes through people’s minds.
It is a way of experiencing the moment with our senses. This may be difficult at first and may take
time to practice, but all the time invested on it would be well worth it.
Interested in doing some mindfulness exercises? Here are some exercises you can do:
1. Do a fake yawn. A fake yawn will trigger a genuine one. Yawning interrupts your thoughts and
feelings and brings you into the present.

2. Deep mindful breathing for one minute. Just focus on the rhythm of your breath, and when
your mind wanders, just re-focus on your breathing. Notice where you feel your breath. It could be
the air that is going in and out of your nostrils, or the rise and fall of your stomach or chest. You can
do this even for over one minute.
3. Listen to sounds. You can do this several times a day, just pausing to listen. Imagine that you
have just arrived on another planet. Listen to all the wonderful music being played around you.
4. If you are right-handed, use your left hand to perform the day’s tasks. Eat, write, and brush your
teeth with your non-dominant hand.
5. Feel the bottoms of your feet. Be aware of the slight sensations on the bottoms of your feet and
the temperature of the surface you are walking on. This is effective when you are feeling anxious
because it shifts your thoughts away from what’s bothering you, thus helping you become more
stable.
Part 3
Rumination disorder
Think about this scenario: Before going to work one morning, you and your wife had a terrible
fight. You did not get to make up, and you went to work bothered by it. You have two options on
how you can deal with this: you can focus on your work and leave the problems back at home; or you
can let the problem ruin your day thinking about it.
Which one is better?
Rumination refers to churning problems repeatedly in your thoughts, usually about past events. It is
when we keep thinking about the event, how it could have gone differently, what others did to us,
and what could have gone right. This can lead quickly to a negative mood. Then when we keep
thinking about what might happen in the future, this can lead to anxiety.
Here is another situation, this time as a student preparing for a project at school:
Thought: “I will get a failing grade for this project.” è Feelings: Worried and anxious è Behaviors: Keep
putting off completing project è Thought: “I will get a failing grade for this project.”
It just becomes an unhealthy cycle.
In case you find yourself ruminating about past events or worrying about the future, here is what you
can do:
1. Do something engaging or active like the ones mentioned in Chapter 1 Part 1.
2. Change the way you are thinking. This may take some time.

Changing the way we think
The way we think is directly related to the way we feel. So changing the way we think will also
change the way we feel. This is referred to as reframing or cognitive restructuring. We all have what
we call Negative Automatic Thoughts (NAT), and the key to making things lighter is to remove our NAT
and turn it to something positive.
Let us look at some situations where we can apply this.
Situation: “Friends did not message me back today.” è NAT: “They don’t care!” è Alternative thought:
“They were busy completing a project yesterday, they are still trying to finish it today.”
This might not take the loneliness away, but it helps you feel better.
Situation: “Lots of homework from school this week.” è NAT: “It’s impossible to get this done. I’ll fail
this, this is too much work!” è Alternative thought: “This is a great way to get myself busy, now I
won’t be bored. My grades will be okay.”
Our brains cannot tell the difference between what is happening in the outside world and what we
create in our mind, so why not create something amazing and visualize it every day?
Everything we have in our life started with a thought, so let us create a beautiful life!
Part 4
Getting along at home
With the quarantine, most of us are staying at home a lot more than usual. We hope that you have
found a lot of positives in this, enjoying quality time with family.
Before COVID-19, it is not usual to be with other people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even with
family members. So living with other people’s highs and lows can really be tough. Due to the stress
of the pandemic, a lot of us are dealing with hard emotions. It is possible that a member of your
family is dealing with the same struggles.
During these moments, communication is not always easy. It can sometimes be fraught, intense, and
confrontational. Research have shown that families with teenagers who are experiencing low mood
and depression have higher cases of conflict.
When we feel down, we sometimes process what others are saying differently, giving it a more
negative meaning. Low mood makes us twist things and blow them out of proportion. Sometimes,
we do not even realize we are doing it. Thus, when a family member or friend speaks to us, we might
interpret them differently.
For example, when you are asked, “Can you help me with this?”, what you hear is “You never
help out!”. Or if they ask, “Are you okay?”, you hear “Something is wrong with you!”.

Avoiding miscommunication
To avoid miscommunication, give others time to express themselves. Then stop for a while to think
about what they said and what they mean before letting your thoughts run away from you.
After you have paused to process the information, and you are still confused as to what they mean,
calmly ask for more information. Keep in mind that the person you are talking to may be in a low
mood right now. This will put things in the proper perspective.
Part 5
Solve problems together
During the pandemic, many families may face an increased number of stressors, and tensions may be
particularly high. Despite this, it may be helpful for families to come together and work through their
problems. Try to be more mindful of how others are feeling and be more accepting if they need to
explode or cry.
Anger and irritability are some of the symptoms of depression, so it is likely that while a person is
down, he is more likely to be agitated and grumpy. Adolescents, parents, and carers might be feeling
like this now. It is important to accept these emotions and to help each other to move past them. We
have to be kind to each other and to ourselves. If possible, work together through difficulties and to
find solutions.
Identifying and solving problems
Problems have always been a part of our lives, but none can probably compare to what is happening
right now. These could be about normal activities like cooking, cleaning, organizing, and keeping
touch with friends. This could also be about major concerns like family health, finances, home
schooling, and future plans. How we look at these problems affect the way we approach them, and
these will impact our own well-being.
When we see problems as overwhelming and frustrating, we are prevented from proactively looking
for solutions. We then tend to ruminate and worry about these problems all the time, and that
affects our mood negatively. Not all problems can be fixed, but there is a way for us to support each
other and to confront the problems together. This will do something positive for us because we are
doing something about it, rather than letting the problems just run through our minds.
Effective problem-solving principles
- Working on solutions together with your family is not an assurance that your problems would
be fixed, but it at least would enhance communication within the family. It will also help family
members to understand each other’s points of view.
- Start with the smaller problems, at least so you can get into the habit of problem-solving and
build your confidence.

- Listen to each other’s solution, no matter how crazy they may sound. Sometimes even the
wildest ideas are actually the ones that work.
Part 6
Knowing what’s important
As you find yourself in quarantine inside your home because of the pandemic, you may find yourself
reflecting more. Having more time to think allows us a chance to think what we like and what we
don’t like, what we miss, and what’s important to us and what is not.
Try to reflect on what you are finding out about yourself. What do you want to take with you moving
forward when life goes back to normal? Will you be doing some things differently?
When we focus on things that we are thankful for, this will have an instant positive effect on our
mood. When days are difficult, it might be much harder to point out what we are grateful for, but it
is in those days that we need them the most.
Writing a journal about the things you are thankful for will be very therapeutic. Each day try to
identify at least three things you are grateful for and write them down, no matter how tiny they
are. Then see if there are bigger ones you can identify throughout the day.
Resilience
Resilience refers to a person’s ability to cope with challenging or difficult situations. Being resilient,
though, does not mean that you have not experienced difficulties yet, or anxious, or distressed when
things get tough. Or that you have not asked for anyone’s help.
What resilience means is that you can see when you are not okay, allow yourself to feel your
emotions rather than suppressing them, and seek the right support to help you deal with the
situation.
Resilience is getting through the situation and reflecting on how we coped and what helped us. It also
means learning about fresh ways to cope in the future and being able to differentiate between the
things that we can control and cannot control and being able to accept the uncontrollable.
Thank you!
Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. Hopefully, this will be the start of a healthier,
happier life for you and your family.