Pretty much everything in our lives has been turned upside down or sideways in the past year. If you are like me you are taking work calls from your bed, not sleeping well, snapping at your loved ones, and generally feel bogged down by the load of it all. When my therapy clients recount the degree of their distress and overwhelm they’re feeling, I’m relating more intimately, in real-time, than ever.

In addition to Pandemic stress and overwhelm, we are in the context of multiple, global stressors including:

• Systemic racism
• Police violence and oppression
• Political division
• Financial uncertainty and economic inequities
• Parental burn-out
• The collision of work and home
• A climate crisis

No one is immune to the impact of the pandemic and global stressors, and there is no end in sight.

The American Psychological Association conducts an annual Stress in America Survey. In May 2020, they upped it to monthly. Yearly assessments of stress just don’t cut it right now. According to the polls taken this summer:

• 72% of Americans say that this is the lowest point in history that they can remember.
• 83% of Americans say the future of our nation is a significant source of stress
• 71% of parents are worried about the long-term impact of the pandemic on their children

From Muck to Meaning

Yet, there is hope. Underneath the stressors we face, lies our values — what and who is most important to us. The pain of the pandemic, political division, racial injustice, and climate change teaches us a lot about what matters most. As Dr. Steven Hayes,  a clinical psychologist and expert in clinical behavioral analysis, shared in my interview with him, when we flip our pain over we discover what we really care about.

The pandemic is taking a disproportionate toll on parents, and

•  82% of parents agree that they are grateful for this time at home with kids.

Racial injustice is causing significant stress, and

• More than 3 in 5 adults report taking action against racism. 
• A majority of adults agree that the movement against racism is going to result in meaningful change.

ACT as a Way Through

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) allows us to face the reality of our pain, rather than running from it so that we can transform the muck of it all into something worthwhile. Like rich compost, our most painful experiences have embedded in them the very nutrients we need to grow and change.

ACT has what we need to face pandemic stress. Together its psychological flexibility processes help you:

• Tolerate uncertainty
• Accept painful emotions
• Unglue from sticky nagging thoughts
• Answer big questions about meaning, impermanence, and death
• Take action towards what you care about

To be afraid, stressed, and uncertain right now is to be human. It is how you respond to that fear and uncertainty that matters.

The Psychological Flexibility processes ACT teaches are the key to navigating the “second pandemic” of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Hayes defines psychological flexibility as “the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends. What that means is being able to flexibly act on your values, even in the face of discomfort.

• In A Liberated Mind, Hayes demonstrates how psychological flexibility is key to mental health, including navigating stressors that are out of our control such as chronic pain, anxious thoughts, or loss and grief
• Psychological Flexibility during COVID lockdown mitigates its effects on anxiety and depression
• Your ability to tolerate uncertainty, accept your emotional experience, and commit to your values can buffer the negative effects of COVID social isolation
• The psychological flexibility of parents during the pandemic helps reduce the “spillover effects” of stress on their children and increases constructive, positive and supportive parenting

More Resources

• • Take a listen to my podcast with Dr. Debbie Sorensen on Pandemic Stress: Strategies from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to learn more about how to apply the 6 core ACT processes in your life today.
  • You can also listen to my interview on the Coach’s Circle Podcast to learn more about how these processes are useful, not only for a crisis, but also for high-level work, habit change, and optimal wellness. Life Coach Path is an educational resource that centers around becoming a coach. Life Coach Path aims to be a complete resource for aspiring coaches everywhere. You can read their latest blog post here.
  • And if you are up for a quick body-based exercise to increase your Psychological Flexibility right now, check out my post!

   

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