How to Support a Loved One Affected by Coronavirus

Do you know someone affected bycoronavirusand are you wondering how best to support them during this time? Perhaps this person isn't answering the phone or you know that they are struggling. While you obviously can't physically be there for someone who is quarantined or currently infected with coronavirus, you surely still feel concerned and aren't sure how to help.

我们在这里告诉您，您的担忧完全有效，特别是在社会偏差和自治区迅速变得新的正常情况下的这种紧张时间。在2012年关于SARS对心理健康的影响的综合精神病学研究中，发现被隔离的时间增加了体验的几率万博手机客户端depressive symptoms三年后。

In addition, those with a pre-existing health problem such as an anxiety disorder were shown to be at greater risk for negative psychological outcomes of self-quarantine. Specifically, not having a normal routine and lack of physical and social contact with others evidently led to feelings of isolation, frustration, and boredom.

For these reasons, the best thing you can do is to think outside the box about how to offer your support from a distance. Below are some ideas of ways to help someone living with coronavirus (or actively avoiding it) while staying safe yourself.

Make a Call

Perhaps the easiest first step is to reach out directly and make a phone call to see how the person is doing. You may wish to stay in contact more frequently than usual, to keep in touch, and to prevent the person from feeling isolated.

If you've made several phone calls that haven't been returned and you are truly concerned for the safety of your friend or loved one, you could consider calling for emergency assistance to check on them.

Listen and Ask How to Help

If your friend or loved one does talk with you on the phone, the best thing you can do is to provide a listening ear. Just being there to listen and offer support could be the most important thing that you do during this time.

Ask what you can do to help, but also consider offering to do specific tasks or to drop off specific items. Do they have a dog that needs walking or other outdoor household chores you could handle? It could be that the person is overwhelmed mentally, and unable to think of what they need in the moment or afraid to be a burden on you.

Drop Off Meals & Groceries

A person affected by coronavirus may not have had time to stock up on necessary supplies or food to last for the quarantine period. You could consider preparing a few healthy freezer meals or doing a porch drop-off of a bag of fresh groceries.

健康的食物,比如全谷类、蔬菜和fruits along with pantry staples with a long shelf-life are the smartest choices. Other items that you could include might be laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper (if store stock permits). Just make sure that you are doing a contact-less drop-off to avoid spreading potential contamination.

Connect on Social Media

没有社交媒体，我们将在大流行中间在哪里？如果您的朋友或所爱的人在Facebook，Twitter，Instagram或Snapchat等社交媒体平台上，请通过共享照片或更新与他们保持联系。

此时的社交媒体的最佳方法将是与现实平衡积极性。已经受到冠状病毒的检疫或隔离的人不需要被告知“留在家”。该人需要社交联系并在此时支持任何东西。

Send a Letter

Particularly if your friend or loved one is in the older adult category (65+), they may appreciate receiving a letter or card through the postal service. A手写卡当他们需要感受到支持或遭受孤立的感觉时，他们可以再次又一次地读取阅读。

Arrange Deliveries

If you can't physically go out yourself to drop off groceries or other supplies to your friend or loved one, another option might be to arrange deliveries.

这可能包括杂货，个人护理需求和药物的当地交付，或者甚至可能意味着来自书籍，杂志等的亚马逊或其他物品的交付，以帮助他们通过时间。

You could also check to see if any delivery services have sprung up in your community, such as neighbors helping each other or certain community groups offering to make deliveries to those in quarantine.

Tapping into the local community of your friend or loved one is one way to do this, either by looking for local Facebook groups or contacting anyone in the area that you know.

Do a Shared Activity

留在社会连接的一种方法可能是建议一个共享活动，这些活动将保持常规联系人。例子可能包括每天阅读一本书的一章并在线谈论它，在线写在一起online journal, or watching a particular movie at the same time and texting or instant messaging about your favorite parts.

Other ideas might include watching Netflix series together, playing online games against each other, or listening to the same audiobooks. Doing a shared activity gives the person something to do and it gives you a reason to stay in regular contact with them.

Keep Them Informed

虽然你不想让孤立的人感觉比世界局势更加惊慌，但作为可靠的信息来源可以帮助消除他们可能受到社交媒体所致的任何神话。

这意味着通过聆听众多新闻机构，公共卫生组织和政府咨询等信誉良好的信息来信，让自己了解。

Those faced with quarantine are more likely to feel distressed if they have unclear information and communication, which can be the case during the outbreak of apandemic。尽可能通过尽可能舒服地分享，尽量减少这些问题的影响，尽量减少这些问题的影响。

Ask About Finances

虽然可能会遇到不舒服的询问金钱，但如果您知道您的朋友或所爱的人可能会面临财务压力或在没有紧急基金的情况下达到薪水的薪水，这可能是明智的，以便检查其财务状况。

If you are in a position to help financially, that could be an option to temporarily ease their burden. Depending on how well you know the person, you could also offer to help them organize their finances or pay bills torelieve their mental burden and help where you can。

Give Them a Routine

Having a regular daily routine during isolation or quarantine is likely to help the person's mental health and mood. Getting enough sleep, getting regular exercise, and going to bed at a certain hour each night are just as important during isolation as they are at other times.

做好准备

如果您感到遗失了如何通过大流行，约翰霍普金斯大学提供了如何最好地支持他人的心理健康。免费在线提供免费心理急救training through the Coursera platform that can help you prepare for how to best support your loved ones. If you have concerns about the psychological well-being of your loved one, you could also look intoonline therapy或基于聊天的支持。

Also, remember to take care of your own mental health during this difficult time. This may mean making extra time for自我保健活动, even though it feels like that is the last thing you have time for. Keep up your exercise, get enough sleep, take vitamins, eat healthy, practice meditation, and generally amp up what you would normally do when going through a stressful period of life or a transition.