Feeling like your mental health is suffering during COVID-19? Finding that your attention is worse, you’ve started restricting your eating again or are having more compulsions? Then this episode is for you.

We chat about first steps to getting back on track when symptoms flare up during COVID including: ADHD, OCD, depression, eating disorders and PTSD/trauma. We also brainstorm ways of dealing with family conflict, drug and alcohol use, and parental guilt.

To wrap things up, we finish with what we’ll miss about lockdown and when we knew we’d been in lockdown a little too long.

Resources mentioned in the show:

• Two shrinks pod COVID page: www.twoshrinkspod.com/coping-with-covid

• Bessel van der Kolk & trauma during COVID: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/blog/how-we-can-nurture-our-mental-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

• Dr Karen Treisman resource page (for people of all ages, links to ways to manage your mental health & trauma responses to COVID): http://www.safehandsthinkingminds.co.uk/covid-anxiety-stress-resources-links/

• Free online CBT programs:

  • https://moodgym.com.au/

  • https://mindspot.org.au/

  • https://thiswayup.org.au/how-we-can-help/courses/
    (free during COVID-19)

57 - We’re all worried about COVID-19, but how much worry is unhelpful?

Dr Lee and Lucky

We have a lively chat with Dr Sherman Lee, an Associate Professor researching COVID-19/Corona virus anxiety at Christopher Newport University in the United States. Sherman tells us about two scales he’s developed measuring 1) Corona anxiety and 2) obsessive thoughts about COVID-19 and grilling us on our responses. We chat through how these scales are helpful in identifying who has significant or extreme COVID-19 related anxiety and what problematic thoughts someone might be having. Along the way we draw on how Sherman got into this research, the role of spirituality in mental health and what COVID-19 anxiety can look like day to day. To wrap up we talk about some of the oddities of lock down in things we came across.

Dr Sherman Lee’s links:

Sherman can be contacted at: sherman.lee@cnu if you have any questions about the topic or using the measures for screening.

Papers:

Lee, S. A. (in press). Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: A brief mental health screener for COVID-19 related anxiety. Death Studies. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1748481

Lee, S. A., Jobe, M. C., & Mathis, A. A. (2020). Mental health characteristics associated with dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000121X

Lee, S. A. (2020). How much “Thinking” about COVID-19 is clinically dysfunctional? Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.067

For more links, including to copies of the Corona Anxiety Scale (CAS) and the Obsessions with Covid-19 scale (OCS) go to the Coronavirus Anxiety Project: https://sites.google.com/cnu.edu/coronavirusanxietyproject/home

56 - Join us as we continue chatting about ways to cope with COVID-19. In this episode, Hunter and Amy talk about coping with information overload, how to self-care in the time of covid, managing expectations of yourself and home schooling. How can we take the pressure off ourselves but still do enough to keep going? We discuss why everyone is feeling so moody and what things you can do to lift your mood and feel a little more connected. To finish up, Hunter asks about what we appreciate more in isolation. Any topics that were missed and you to be covered message [email protected] and let us know.

Resources

• Two shrinks’ COVID-19 resource pages: www.twoshrinkspod.com/coping-with-covid

• Bessel van der Kolk on coping with COVID & why it triggers anger: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/blog/how-we-can-nurture-our-mental-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

• It’s crisis schooling, not home schooling: https://ethics.org.au/this-isnt-home-schooling-its-crisis-schooling/

• How long kids can work for: https://www.popsugar.com/family/homeschool-hours-by-grade-chart-47384958

55 - In our first episode recorded COVID style, we have a chat about common issues and questions coming up for people. Tune in for ideas on how to manage anxiety, dealing with uncertainty and coping with the flow on effects of COVID. We also talk about how to talk to people in your life who are more or less anxious than you about COVID. To finish up, we talk about what’s new in isolation - Hunter talks about his obsession with the Falklands War and Amy rants about the problems of doing jigsaws with cats.

Join us next time as we finish off part two of our COVID chat with self-care, feeling overwhelmed and coping with isolation.

Mentioned this episode:

• Two Shrinks Pod collated resources: www.twoshrinkspod.com/coping-with-covid

• Bessel Van der Kolk video: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/blog/how-we-can-nurture-our-mental-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

• Stuff you should know, Falkland’s War: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/what-was-the-falkland-islands-war-all-about-anyway/id278981407?i=1000468859584

In this episode Hunter & Amy interview Danielle Graber, clinical psychologist based in Melbourne who has been working with people impacted by the bushfires. We recorded this episode a month ago but our chief editor (Hunter) has been unwell so we’ve been delayed with the release. Stay tuned for an episode on COVID and a light one for some distraction.

Danielle and her three therapy dogs

The bushfires over the Australian summer were devastating and have left many communities without their homes, businesses and safe spaces. We wanted to chat to a psychologist with experience working with bushfire survivors and helping in the recovery process. Danielle gives a great description of people’s responses to bushfires, talks us through treatment at different stages of response and speaks about the importance of community led recovery. She also gives an easy to understand overview of EMDR and runs us through how she integrates animal assisted therapy into her work.

In the midst of everything that’s happening globally, people are still recovering from the fires and could use some help. If you’re interested, please visit the links below. Danielle’s practice is also offering up to 6 free sessions without a mental health care plan for people impacted by fires on Thursday afternoons until the end of April. Contact 12 points psychology for more information.

Resources:

www.12pointspsychology.com - information about psychological responses

How to access mental health support (including 10 sessions with a psychologist) if impacted by the fires - https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/how-get-mental-health-support

Neighbours in recovery facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/neighboursinrecovery/ - Get in touch with the group to be involved in coordinated, community based responses

Where to donate:

www.redcross.org.au

www.wildlifevictoria.org.au

www.wires.org.au

www.cfa.vic.gov.au

www.rfs.nsw.gov.au

How do you help a professional athlete perform at their best? How do you help them cope with performance anxiety or failure? What is the role of a psychologist in a football club and how can you work with coaching staff to help the whole team? Hunter chats to Michael Inglis about his work as a sports psychologist. Michael is working with Western United Football Club (that’s soccer for you AFL followers), he has also worked with AFL Players association, Australian Cricketers Association, Rugby Union Players Association, Professional Footballers Association, as well as with tennis players, cyclists - so you know like every sport. This is an episode that is all about improving performance and so will be interesting even if you aren’t crazy into sport.

Michael works at www.themindroom.com.au and they have a sports focused program there: https://themindroom.com.au/what-we-do/sport/

You can follow Michael on twitter : @M_InglisSpoPsyc

If you liked this episode don’t forget to rate/review the show and you can check out more about 2SP at www.twoshrinkspod.com

Ever wanted to know what it is like to work as a psychologist who works with cancer patients? Or are you interested in how a psychologist works with children? Continuing on with the relaxed 2SP summer programming Amy and Hunter decided to interview each other and ask questions about the work that they do and expand on discussions that they have touched on in previous episodes. Clinically Amy and Hunter see eye to eye and are behavioural in approach but they work in different fields, Amy works with kids and Hunter with cancer patients in a hospital (psycho-oncology).

In the first half of the episode Amy asks Hunter all the questions she has wanted to know about working with death anxiety and seeing patients for brief interventions. Then at about 33 minutes the roles are flipped and Hunter grills Amy on how exactly she gets children to talk to her and other aspects of play therapy. So a good episode to listen to in parts, especially if your travel to work is 33 mins each way. Or if you only really like one host - then just listen to that part.

Hunter mentions these things:

Understanding adjustment to cancer by Brennan in the journal Psycho-Onclogy: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1099-1611%28200101/02%2910%3A1%3C1%3A%3AAID-PON484%3E3.0.CO%3B2-T

Staring at the Sun - self help book on death anxiety (excellent - yes you should read it):

https://www.amazon.com.au/Staring-Sun-Overcoming-Terror-Death/dp/0470401818

51 - So Amy and Hunter decided to do another episode of therapists on film and television. In part because they realised that there was an over representation of male therapists in the previous episode and mostly because it is the holidays and they really enjoyed doing something a bit lighter.

In this episode they play and talk about clips of therapists from Web Therapy, Pure, Lars and the Real Girl, Newsroom, Blades of Glory, The Sopranos (including Dr Melfi’s supervisor), the Sixth Sense (for the obligatory child psych content), Kath and Kim (for an Australian angle), Two and a half men (because Hunter’s brother loves that show) and of course the excellent Good Will Hunting. Hear Amy and Hunter discuss what is good therapy and what is not, including diatribes about CBT for OCD and whether ACT is appropriate, as well as the best way to engage a child in therapy.

Don’t forget to check out the excellent episode discussing Good Will Hunting on the @schoolofmovies podcast feed for a great discussion of trauma and therapy : https://player.fm/series/school-of-movies-2361951/good-will-hunting

50 - Ever wondered if the therapists you see on TV or film are doing the right thing? Or why they are doing what they do? Then this is the episode for you, Amy and Hunter play eight scenes from television and film of therapists doing what they do and break down what is going on. They go through, Grosse Point Blank, Frasier, Analyze This, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The West Wing, In Treatment, M*A*S*H* and Harriet the Spy.

Did we miss anything? Let us know via [email protected] or on twitter @twoshrinkspod

What’s it like living with a family member or partner with Borderline Personality Disorder? On this episode, we take a look at the experiences of carers and the supports available to them. We start with the diagnostic criteria for BPD and a discussion of how the dynamic of worry and monitoring can have a negative impact on family members. Hunter then takes us through the impact of BPD on parenting before Amy talks about the experiences of partners. As always, we finish with TWCA, chatting about whether public shaming works to change behaviour and provide scientific evidence for why Hunter’s kids wouldn’t eat their dinner (food neophobia)

Research:

Expressed emotion and wellbeing for families are carers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25195577

Comprehensive review of the impact of BPD on parenting and subsequent impacts on offspring: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27261413

Parenting intervention for BPD: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18387357.2018.1464887

Systematic of review of partner experiences and supports: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29975337

TWCA:

Food neophobia: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25862982

Public shaming: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/11/13/the-paradox-of-viral-outrage-public-shaming-inspires-further-outrage-but-also-increases-sympathy-for-the-offender/

Resources for family members:

• Spectrum information sheet: https://www.spectrumbpd.com.au/images/PDFs/WHEN_A_FAMILY_MEMBER_OR_FRIEND_HAS_BORDERLINE_PERSONALITY_DISORDER_brochure__29_Sept_2016.pdf

• MIND information sheet: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/borderline-personality-disorder-bpd/for-friends-and-family/#.Xe9HUbE7ZPY

• For partners: https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-romantic-bpd-relationships-425217

Supports in Australia:

• Support for kids and teens looking after parents with mental health issues in Victoria, Australia: https://www.bouverie.org.au/support-for-services/fapmi

• www.bpdfoundation.org.au

• Free, 12 week Family Connections course for family members, Australia wide:

  https://www.bpdaustralia.org/about-family-connections/

Supports internationally:

• Links and resources: https://www.projectairstrategy.org/mpalinks/index.html

• Free, 12 week Family Connections course for family members, USA: https://www.borderlinepersonalitydisorder.org/family-connections/family-connections-pre-registration-form/

• Free, 12 week Family Connections course for family members, Canada: https://sashbear.org/en/family-connections/family-connections-2