How to avoid going crazy during a pandemic? 8 tips from the country's chief psychiatrist

In order not to break down, not to lose control of yourself and somehow establish a new life, you need practical advice. We asked psychologists, HR specialists and directors about what they do for the psychological comfort of employees. We found freelancers and remote workers who have been successfully working from home for several years.

It turned out that the following rules help them feel even better remotely than in the office:

• Compliance with work schedule
• Alternating time for rest and work
• Physical activity or extreme
• A complete weekend getaway
• Activity plan for children
• Office rental
• Organization of work space
• Setting up workflows
• Attention to appearance
• Information flow management
• Desire for completed actions
• Checklist: how to maintain mental stability remotely

Follow your work schedule

The main problem of those who switch to remote work is time management. We often put things off, stretching out any task throughout the day. As a result, we sit at the computer for 12 hours, distracted by social networks and news, and then frantically finish our work at night.

Workaholics are discovering that they can get more done remotely. They use the time that was previously spent on the road for the benefit of their work. Then they have lunch at the computer. They don’t see a problem in working in the evenings or on weekends. As a result, their working day goes far beyond the standard 8 hours. But the body can’t stand it, and burnout begins.

The solution to this problem is to create a schedule and stick to it. If you are freelancing, then decide what hours will be working. If this is a regular job, just remote, then discuss your schedule with your manager. Agree when you will be in touch. The rest of the time, turn off your phone and prohibit yourself from going near the computer.

Editor-in-Chief of the Mail.ru Cloud Solutions blog Ekaterina Kushnir has been working remotely since 2010. Therefore, she is very familiar with the problem of mixing personal and work time.

As a result, she found a solution - to set a regime, the number of hours beyond which one cannot work. “Usually this is a standard office schedule - from 9.00 to 17.00 with a lunch break to be in touch with colleagues,” says Kushnir. — Sometimes I can work early in the morning or late in the evening, but not during the day. I also always have two days off a week, although it’s not always Saturday and Sunday.”

Who is most susceptible to burnout?

Most often, people who are employed in such a field as “human-human” are prone to emotional burnout. It affects doctors, psychologists, educators, teachers, social workers and pedagogues, executives, bosses, managers and all those who communicate with a large number of people every day.

Photo by Piron Guillaume on Unsplash

These are the so-called “helping” professions, where contact is based on supporting others. This also includes work during which a person needs to make important decisions regarding others (managers).

It is worth adding that those who, in principle, are incapable of working with people and got into their position by accident, are also prone to burnout, usually introverts. Creative people also find it difficult to withstand severe stress.

Those who have to suppress their feelings and try to please the client (managers/sellers) are also at risk. Personality characteristics also complicate the situation. Therefore, people who tend to blame themselves and sacrifice their interests, perfectionists, those who find it difficult to conflict and defend their boundaries are also at risk.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

In general, we can say that psychologists associate the increase in emotional burnout with modern rates, to which not every person can adapt without harm to their health.

The causes of emotional burnout are different for each category of specialist, but the result is the same: exhaustion, overwork, decreased self-esteem, negativity towards people, increased irritability, possibly decreased immunity, impaired appetite and sleep. Feelings of guilt and low activity may also occur.

It is important to understand that such a reaction is normal to a stressful situation; the body seems to turn off the emotional sphere in response to too much involvement in communication with people, excessive empathy.

Alternate time for rest and work

Don't demand maximum concentration from yourself throughout the entire working day. “Working responsibly 8 hours a day is difficult,” says Kirill Grishanin, founder of WB-Tech. “The efficiency of a normal person is 70%, the remaining 30% of the time is spent on personal matters or surfing the Internet.”

Yana Frank, in her book on time management, “The Muse and the Beast: How to Organize Creative Work,” recommends dividing your working time into segments—we work for 40-45 minutes, rest for 15 minutes.

But you also need to rest properly. If the work involves intellectual stress, then you should not switch to something complex. It is better to do physical exercise or household chores, for example, wash the dishes.

This is also a great way to force yourself to get down to work when you really don’t want to. The well-known technique for combating procrastination, the Pomodoro method, works in much the same way. You promise yourself to work for only 25 minutes, then rest for 5 minutes. It’s easier to start this way, because 25 minutes is very little. After four repetitions, stretch the rest for 15-20 minutes.

Pharmedu CEO Tatyana Khodanovich recommends finding time for yourself - these 10-15 minutes every few hours help you not go crazy while in a confined space. “You can even just look out the window for 5-7 minutes, this is a kind of meditation. Or go to the store, during self-isolation this is also a kind of relaxation.”

Add physical activity or extreme sports

The author of the book Focus, Daniel Goleman, divides our thinking into two types. This is a “wandering mind” when you constantly keep some worries in your head. For example, you think about what you need to buy in the store in the evening, what the manager will say at the planning meeting tomorrow. And the “here and now” state is maximum concentration on the task.

The founder of the WB-Tech company, Kirill Grishanin, believes that the state of “here and now” can be trained with the help of “high-speed” physical exercises. It turns out to be a kind of exercise that pulls our brain out of the “wandering” state.

“Now my mental exercise, which I do every day, is a bike ride to the coworking space. It could also be snowboarding down a mountain or training complex combinations on a trampoline. It’s difficult to race on a board at a speed of 50 km/h and be upset that the customer does not transfer money,” says Kirill Grishanin.

Various studies show the benefits of exercise for the brain and psyche. It is not necessary to engage in sports professionally; a few hours of exercise a week are enough, and those that you like.

For clarity of mind and memory development, engage in cyclic exercise - run, ride a bike, swim. Strength training is needed to find new ideas and develop creativity. Intense team games or martial arts will help with concentration.

Qualities that improve interaction with people

1. Empathy is a person’s ability to empathize, understand other people’s needs, motivations, and feelings. This is the ability to put yourself in the place of another, to look at the problem through his eyes. You can train empathy through communicating with other people, helping others, and striving to understand and get to know your interlocutor.
2. Authenticity is the ability to be yourself. When we play roles, it makes communication difficult and distorts expectations. Try to behave naturally. The game requires a lot of resources and stress.
3. Specificity is the ability to clearly and directly state your needs, feelings, and be honest.
4. Acceptance of feelings is the ability to adequately express one’s feelings and also accept other people’s emotions, respecting them.
5. Initiative is the ability to be the first to make contact or resolve a conflict. This important quality helps to solve problems quickly and take a leading position.
6. Tolerance is tolerance for the opinions and views of other people.
7. Ability to resolve conflicts . An important skill when working with people. Very often this ability helps smooth out rough edges. It is important to feel the situation and understand when to remain silent or actively act.
8. Stress resistance . It is perhaps one of the most important qualities when working with people. The ability to withstand stress without harm to the personality and psyche is necessary during prolonged and intense contacts. If a person has highly developed empathy and low resistance to stress, then emotional burnout is inevitable.
9. Introspection . Very often, reflection helps to look at the situation more objectively, to see one’s place in a conflict or dialogue, to understand what could be done differently, and where the behavior was correct.

Get plenty of rest this weekend

Remote work often becomes stressful not because of the work tasks themselves, but because of our inability to relax outside the home. It used to be like this: we work 5 days a week in the office, and spend Saturday and Sunday at home. Nowadays, many of us spend every day in the apartment, so it’s better to change the environment on the weekends.

You can go out of town, travel around the region in search of interesting authentic places. See what ecotourism is offered near your city? Maybe there's a cheese farm or the opportunity to go on a day hike.

If you can’t get out into the region, try to find something new in the city. Look for local activities, such as playing sports in parks or walking in the hills to watch the sunset. Try “street” hobbies - landscape photography, Nordic walking, scootering or rollerblading.

Help with fears at the ROSA clinic

1. Experienced and sensitive specialists: psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists and psychotherapists;
2. We advise adults, teenagers and children;
3. Licensed and certified in all types of assistance for mental and nervous system disorders;
4. We work around the clock;
5. Conveniently located: near the metro, free parking;
6. Anonymous and confidential;
7. If necessary, there is the possibility of placement in your own comfortable hospital.

If you or your loved ones are overcome by fears or obsessive thoughts, call us, we will help.

Create an activity plan for children

When working remotely, you need to learn how to plan. Make a list of things you can do to quickly keep your child occupied. This will help if you have to make an urgent call at work or a sudden task arises.

Practice anticipating unexpected situations. When you have a plan, it's easier to act.

To organize herself several hours of quality work a day, Pharmedu CEO Tatyana Khodanovich created a routine, like in a kindergarten. Leisure centers that offered various activities for children helped her with this.

Rent an office

Problems in remote work sometimes begin due to the need to work close to loved ones. On the one hand, you are constantly distracted by requests and worries. On the other hand, it is also difficult for relatives to sit in silence all the time. Irritation builds up.

Try to find an “office” close to home. It seems that this option is only suitable for highly paid specialists, but this is not so. Often, a remote worker only needs a small, quiet space.

Look for rooms in old research institutes that have now been converted into office complexes - there is no luxury there, but the price is usually several times lower than in business centers. Or rent a small apartment. The costs can be divided among several people, as freelancers often do.

Pavel Molyanov, co-founder of the Let's Do agency, says that for the first six months he freelanced in a one-room apartment with a small child. To avoid distractions, I had to work with headphones.

As a result, he decided to rent a room in the basement and equip it as an office. “Work has become much more comfortable: there are no distractions, you might think,” says Pavel Molyanov. “I stopped feeling the discomfort of stressing my family by forcing them to sit in silence all day. Now I’m working at home again, but this is a different apartment, I have my own office and therefore no one bothers anyone.”

Prepare your work area

If the office doesn’t work out, make yourself a workspace at home. It’s not just a laptop and your favorite sofa - it’s better to organize at least a table and an armchair so as not to mix the space for living and working.

“Don't eat at the computer. First of all, it's harmful. And secondly, you blur the boundaries of your workplace and do not allow your brain to switch and change the environment,” warns corporate psychologist Ksenia Lukasheva.

In the office, your manager takes care of the arrangement of the workplace. At home you will have to think through everything yourself. According to Natalya Storozheva, general director of the Perspective business and career development center, it is important to work out technical issues: ensure uninterrupted Internet, good mobile communications, a comfortable chair or a fenced-off corner. “The ergonomics of the space is important so that business documents, work materials and a laptop are always at hand,” says the expert.

Don't forget to communicate with colleagues

When working from home, the frequency of communication with colleagues and superiors often decreases. In the office, you cross paths in the corridors, approach each other to clarify something, and meet at meetings. During remote work, communication with the team is either reduced to a minimum or becomes of poor quality. Typically, team leads control such things in companies. They initiate video conferences to maintain team spirit. It is important not to forget to discuss common tasks with colleagues, as well as talk about abstract topics. If done correctly and without spending most of your time in meetings and discussions, communicating with colleagues and bosses can help you cheer up and better organize your work.

• Diseases and disorders

Organize your work processes

A comfortable state depends not only on working equipment; when working remotely, communication problems arise. If previously you could simply approach a colleague and immediately get an answer to your question, now you have to communicate through email or instant messengers.

Of course, organizing work processes is the task of the manager. But if something is bothering you specifically, you can try to take the initiative into your own hands. For example, offer to agree on how and in what situations you need to communicate with colleagues - we solve simple issues by mail, urgent ones for a specific messenger. If the question cannot be postponed at all, we’ll call you.

If you lead a team, take care of your subordinates - they must understand how to work now.

“We created a manual on the corporate portal,” says Alexander Bochkin, General Director of Infomaximum. — Now every employee knows who to contact on this or that issue. Colleagues also received recommendations on planning work remotely. We have arranged for home delivery of workstations, peripherals and even office chairs.”

Find an outlet

There are many benefits to working remotely. And one of the main things is autonomy. You can, within certain limits, choose when and how much to work.

When you do something calm and interesting, when you have found a passion, you can unconsciously enter a state of flow. And in the future it will be easier to enter into it - including at work. Daniel Kahneman, psychologist and economist, says:

People who experience flow describe it as “a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose track of time, forget about themselves and their problems.
This is accompanied by ease and a feeling of satisfaction. Many activities can induce a feeling of flow, from painting to motorcycle racing. Some of the most productive writers I know enter this state even while writing a book. Flow allows you to fully concentrate on the task without expending unnecessary mental effort.

Here are some more examples of actions that can trigger a thread:

• Walk or bike ride among nature.
• Playing a musical instrument.
• Reading your favorite book.
• Game of chess.
• Caring for your garden or indoor plants.

You can choose one of these activities. Or come up with your own - preferably relaxing, peaceful, calm. No, playing Call of Duty with guys won't work. And playing blitz chess on three boards simultaneously.

The main thing here is to have something to do that will allow you to not burn out. After which any work becomes a pleasure, even if only for a short time. And how long this state will last largely depends on the atmosphere around and on the quality of organization of the workspace.

Watch your appearance

Corporate psychologist Ksenia Lukasheva believes that business clothes put us in the mood for work. Therefore, even if you do not need to leave the house, still change from home clothes to work clothes. Let it be at least jeans and a T-shirt, but special ones in which you “go” only to work.

“Start internal processes with external incentives,” advises Dina Maksimova, head of the HR department at Vezet Group. - Our brain is accustomed to rituals, use it. Don't start work in your pajamas, especially if you haven't done this before. Clothes, hairstyle and even makeup can help and encourage productive work.”

Filter the information flow

This advice also applies to regular office work, but in a remote format it becomes especially relevant - control the flow of information. Avoid news rumors and fake news. The less bad news the better.

“In general, I would recommend not watching news on TV or reading newsletters in various chats like school-parent chats about the second and third waves of the pandemic and other horrors, but studying news on the Internet in reliable media. Take care of your psyche, it will be useful to you,” says psychologist and art therapist Natalya Koroteeva.

Signs of burnout

1. Perhaps the most significant indicator is fatigue . And it is important to note that fatigue can occur even from short-term contact with people or from a small load. A condition that becomes chronic is a symptom of emotional burnout.
2. Psychosomatic manifestations . These could be headaches, migraines, dizziness, gastritis, causeless abdominal pain, increased sweating, and weakness. A person may begin to get sick often. In fact, scientists record completely different diseases - from mild colds to more serious ones, and they are associated with exhaustion of the body.
3. Sleep and appetite disturbances . Apparently, this is also an important signal. There may be several possible scenarios for the development of events: insomnia, when a person cannot fall asleep for a long time in the evening and wake up in the morning, or a constant desire to sleep, when it is difficult to wake up even after 8-10 hours of sleep. The same picture is observed with appetite: it may disappear or increase unreasonably.
4. Irritability and aggressiveness increase. General discontent is growing. A person overreacts to little things and becomes hot-tempered. This manifestation can occur not only at work, but more often manifests itself in the family, when people begin to take it out on loved ones.
5. Isolation, withdrawal . The person tries to minimize contact with other people.
6. Loss of professional interest and indifference . What used to excite the imagination and give strength, today becomes an uninteresting activity, perceived as a routine, burdensome and does not bring joy.

Strive for completed actions

There is an opinion that it is more difficult to get a promotion when working remotely; supposedly colleagues notice less the contribution of such an employee to the common cause. This is partly true - managers don’t see us remotely, many value personal communication more than correspondence.

Responsible remote employees suffer from impostor syndrome - it is difficult to objectively evaluate their own work. It is also worth considering the lack of approval, support and career prospects. For example, when we give a report to a manager in the office, he can immediately skim through it and praise it. Remotely, we simply send a letter and receive minimal feedback in return.

Director of HR and Organizational Development at S8 Capital Holding Tatyana Gladyuk recommends focusing employees on more specific and shorter tasks.

“This way people will understand what is required of them, quickly navigate the task and independently build steps to achieve results. Be sure to thank them for their work and express your support in other ways. This motivates employees to work better,” advises Tatyana Gladyuk.

If your work consists of long-term projects, then try to break them up into small pieces yourself - 1-2 hours of work.

How anxiety multiplies

Yulia Borta, AiF: Zurab Ilyich, it feels like general anxiety is growing.

Zurab Kekelidze : In the “first wave,” many thought that they had to gather their strength and be patient, the doctors were about to find a remedy, and it would all be over. It turned out that we cannot defeat the coronavirus so quickly. Unfortunately, this is not appendicitis, when you can immediately perform an operation and save the person. So the emergence of the “second wave” polarized society even more. Those who were sure that everything was made up, and those who are convinced that the danger is real and they need to protect themselves and loved ones, became stronger in their positions. Moreover, even if the “deniers” see that the danger is not far-fetched and people actually get sick and die, they still do not wear masks, justifying their refusal by saying that the mask allegedly causes allergies.

During a pandemic, behavior changes occur. We constantly listen to what is said around us, in the media, what is visible on the street. Moreover, many in this state hear what they want to hear. And this often causes increased anxiety. Because if the issue is not radically resolved (how to help this?), a person does not know what to do, and all the time expects that the enemy will continue to threaten his life and health. Simultaneously with the increase in anxiety, there is a decrease in criticism and assessment of the state. When such an anxious person goes out into the street and sees someone, say, without a mask, of course, conflicts arise.

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“It seems that a number of media outlets, instead of informing, are only fueling more fear and anxiety.

– Indeed, the way the problem is presented to us often increases anxiety and tension in society. For example, at one time they showed us stories on TV about how stars were observing quarantine - they showed what a wonderful dacha they had, a good bicycle, and how their expensive designer masks were decorated. There should be calls from famous people to defend themselves. But instead we saw a demonstration of ourselves loved ones. Most viewers do not have such living conditions. And this only causes irritation, which is often followed by aggression.

Checklist: how to maintain mental stability remotely

Here is a list of points that will help you solve problems productively and not go crazy from the sudden remote work format:

• Create a work schedule. It is better if he is the same as his colleagues. At certain times you do business and are in touch. Before and after - no work and not even short calls.
• Alternate rest and work. Try several formats, for example, 45 minutes of work and 15 minutes of rest. Or 25 and 5. Stop at what's comfortable.
• Get some exercise. Do this regularly. Choose activities that you like.
• If the children are at home, create a to-do list for them. When your child requires attention and you have a work day, use an activity prepared in advance.
• In order not to distract your family, try renting an office - it doesn’t have to be expensive, even a small apartment with Internet will do. If that doesn’t work, organize a separate place at home.
• Set up workflows. If problems arise in communications, agree on communication formats. Colleagues need to know through which communication channel they can discuss tasks.
• Watch your appearance, do not work in pajamas.
• Find activities that interest you. Don't spend your weekends at home.

Create a work schedule

When you work from home, it feels like you have an endless amount of time to do things, and you can start doing them at any time. Yes, you no longer waste time traveling to and from the office, but you still need to have deadlines for completing tasks and a clearly defined work schedule. It is best to set a deadline for each task and allocate a certain period of time to complete it. The advantage of remote work is that you no longer have to fit into “office hours” - you can create a work schedule based on the time when you are most effective.

It is important to clearly separate time for work and rest, and even the smallest breaks for coffee and cigarettes should be strictly regulated. Stick to a planned schedule and soon enough it will become familiar to you.