Marriage Counsellor and Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo

When it is about the COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic, there is what you hear and see and post taking it all there is how it all makes you feel.

You have been asked to stay home as long as possible. Restaurants and eating joints are taking delivery to home orders only. Bars, malls, theaters, offices, schools, and colleges are all closed. You switch on the television to watch the news and again it is all about the coronavirus.

You go through your social media feeds and COVID-19 is there, too. It is far too much to take in, and if you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and panicked you are not alone.

But everyone is prepared, and want you to feel prepared, too.

The world has seen epidemics before and overcame those times. You are all in this together, and it is vital that you all stay calm and work together.

If you see yourself feeling stressed about the situation, this article written by Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo based in Delhi is for you.

Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo shares essential tips to control your fear and anxiety during the times of COVID-19.

Ensure You Are Getting The Verified Facts

News and information about the COVID-19 pandemic is everywhere. Local news, online news sources, social media feeds everyone seems to have information, and they definitely all have opinions. Staying updated is vital, but you will want to ensure that who you are listening to and getting it right.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a grave situation, and you must take your cues and your facts from a verified source only. For information regarding the coronavirus, including symptoms, how to protect yourself, who is at higher risk, resources for the community and others. It is recommended that using recommend using govt sources as your primary source of truth.

Healthwise Look To Stay Fit

You must always keep your health as a priority, especially, during a pandemic, staying healthy becomes more crucial than ever.

Never forget about your health. You need to stay healthy to lower your risk of contracting any illness, including COVID-19. Staying healthy means eating healthy, drinking plenty of water and getting good sleep and exercising daily. These healthy habits will also assist you lower and manage the stress of handling the changes and challenges you face during these times.

Try To Manage Your Anxiety And Fear

There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the COVID-19. How long will it last? How grave will it get? But bear in mind, there are plenty of things about the coronavirus you do know and you are learning more about it daily.

It may sound counterintuitive, but 1 of the finest ways to manage your fear of the unknown is to prepare yourselves for the fact that uncertainty does exist.

Currently, no one can say how long this will last. But it would be realistic that everyone should all prepare for a quite unusual next few months, simultaneously one should also prepare for this to go on for even longer than that.

In the meantime, it is critical to counter anxiety and fear with the things that make you relax.

If you need to unwind, listen to music and talk to your loved ones especially when you are confined to your homes.  Do remember to practice social distancing as you meet others.

You can also overcome the fear of the unknown by paying attention on what you can control, like understanding your role in preventing the spread of coronavirus and maintaining the normalcy as much as you can.

Take Complete Advantage Of Your Home Stay

In the beginning, social distancing may sound uncomfortable but you might want to look at it as an opportunity. Consider utilizing this time at home to catch up on the kinds of stuff that get put on the backbench of a busy and hectic life.

·         Try to do the following while at home:

·         Do house-related chores like cleaning and washing.

·         Read books

·         Call and Chat with friends and relatives

·         Indulge in your hobbies.

·         Spend time with family members

Practice Meditation And Mindfulness

It is essential to stay updated on the COVID-19 pandemic, but fixating on it could lead to unwanted stress. After catching up on the news, you may look to set aside time for mindfulness, meditation or prayer.

Long, deep breaths, concentrating on the present, and taking some time to be grateful for what you have are all wonderful ways to re-align yourself and bring a sense of calmness to your life.

Your Counselor Is Now Just Skype/Video Call Away

During the current challenging time, it’s common to experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and relationship challenges at home. While you are under lockdown and maintaining social distancing norms to help the country to control COVID-10 spread, your very own counsellor Shivani is now just a call and Skype video call away from you.

However, in this age of coronavirus, we hope to offer our therapeutic help.  Change is difficult for all of us and changing the way you meet with your therapist is no exception.  But try it before you disregard this option.  This is a challenging moment in time, and fears and anxieties are running high. 

You may find, telepsychology isn’t a second-rate option.  Instead, it’s an effective and efficient upgrade to a valuable service! 

Feel free to call Counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo at +91-8860875040 for telephonic or video support and to book an online counselling session to address any relationship issues, emotional and psychological challenges.

In general, couples who are fleeting through distressed relationship doubt if couple counselling would never work for them or not or would it be a wastage of time and money – and that stops them from seeking professional help from an expert who can save their relationship and marriage.

The problem arises because there are myths about the low success rate of couples therapy. People with no experience of good counselling or who don’t know about the subject, give the worst advice to distressed people. “Couple Counselling is a waste of money”, “rather wear gems or consult an astrologer, do yoga, meet new people” but don’t trust a trained and certified expert who is trained and experienced especially to help distressed couples and to save their relationship and marriage.

Delhi’s eminent Psychologist and Couple Counsellor Shivani Misri Sadhoo tell us that the success rate of couple therapy is extremely high. She says there has been much research done to check the success rate of couple counselling and the results are always extraordinary, for example recently a research was done by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, families and couples who have attended family or couples therapy sessions indicate high levels of patient satisfaction. Over 98% of those surveyed reported that they received good or excellent couples therapy. Respondents also reported improved physical and emotional health and the ability to communicate better at work after attending therapy.

So how couple counselling work? Counsellor Shivani Misri Sadhoo says good couple counselling works on certain basic principles and that pulls out couples from their distressed state to a positive and healthy relationship condition. These principals are:

1. Good couple counselling changes the views of the relationship.

First, the couple therapist helps both partners see the relationship in an objective manner.  The therapist helps the couples to learn to stop the “blame game” and instead look at what happens to them when they involve each partner negatively.

2. Modifies dysfunctional behaviour.

Effective couple therapist attempts to change the way the partners actually behave with each other. This means that in addition to helping them improve their interactions, therapists ensures that their clients are not engaging in actions that can cause physical, psychological or economic harm to self or to their partner.

3. Decreases Emotional Avoidance

Couples who avoid expressing their innermost feelings put themselves at a greater risk of becoming emotionally distant and hence grow apart. Effective couples therapist helps their clients bring out the emotions and thoughts that they fear expressing to the other person. Attachment-based couples therapy allows the partners to feel less afraid of expressing their needs for closeness.

4. Improves Communication

An effective couple counsellor focuses on helping the partners to communicate more effectively. The new communication mode which the counsellor redevelops within couples is not abusive, nor does it ridicule partners when they express their true feelings. The counsellor helps the couples learn to listen more actively and empathically.

5. Promotes strengths

Effective couple therapists point out the strengths in the relationship and build resilience particularly as therapy nears a termination.  The point of promoting strength is to help the couple to gain back their trust, their love, their bliss and satisfaction which was put on the back burner by both the partners.