A psychiatrist has explained why the lockdown can make you feel worse and exacerbate pre-existing mental health problems – and how you fight it.
In the clip, Chloe who is on TikTok as @psychiachick says the day-to-day drudgery of life under lockdown rules can make mental health symptoms worse.
Explaining why you can feel miserable in a pandemic, Chloe blamed a lack of novel stimuli, which she says, put more simply, is a "lack of new experiences".
She says: "Most of us are seeing the same person or people in the same four walls, reading the same news stories every single day at the moment.
"There’s even a lack of new TV shows and movies coming out.
"When our brains get the same repetitive input something know as the brain’s Default Mode Network is activated.
"It’s sort of like operating on standby and it gives rise to rigid and repetitive thoughts and feelings
"So, if you’re someone who is prone to anxious or depressive thoughts, if you’re not experiencing anything new to disrupt these thoughts, they’re going to be on repeat."
Luckily, Chloe says there is a way to try and tackle these repetitive anxious or depressive thoughts and "override this system".
The key is to "do something you’ve never done before," she says.
Chloe then balances upside-down with a VR system on her head as an example, but jokes it's not actually a good idea because it turns out it makes her feel "really sick".
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The video has been watched more than 350,000 times and many people commented to say how helpful the advice was.
One viewer said: "I listened to completely new music today and it made me feel something I haven’t felt in a while. I felt more alive."
Someone else commented: "This is why I started an indoor herb garden and found radio stations around the world to listen to. I started getting burned out from the news."
A third viewer said: "The last clip made me laugh, thank you. I definitely feel like I’m on standby mode and it’s tough to get out of my routine now."
Another viewer wrote: "I’ve been feeling more anxious than I have in my life recently, frequent attacks, so I decided to try learning guitar. It helps distract me at least."
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