Practical Strategies for Maintaining Mental Health During Crises

Understanding the Impact of Crises on Mental Health

In times of crisis, our mental health faces unprecedented challenges that can affect every aspect of our lives. Whether we’re dealing with natural disasters, global pandemics, economic uncertainty, personal tragedies, or social upheaval, these events create ripple effects that touch our psychological, emotional, and physical well-being. Understanding how crises impact our mental health is not just an academic exercise—it’s a crucial first step toward developing effective coping mechanisms and building the resilience needed to navigate turbulent times.

Crises disrupt our sense of safety, predictability, and control over our environment. When the familiar structures of daily life crumble or shift dramatically, our brains respond with heightened alert systems designed to protect us from danger. While these responses are evolutionarily adaptive for short-term threats, prolonged exposure to crisis conditions can overwhelm our natural coping mechanisms and lead to significant mental health challenges.

Common Psychological Responses to Crisis Situations

The human mind responds to crisis in complex and varied ways. Recognizing these responses as normal reactions to abnormal circumstances can help reduce the stigma and self-judgment that often accompany mental health struggles during difficult times.

Increased anxiety and fear about the future: Uncertainty about what lies ahead triggers our threat-detection systems, leading to persistent worry, racing thoughts, and catastrophic thinking patterns.
Feelings of isolation and loneliness: Physical distancing measures, disrupted social networks, or the unique nature of personal crises can create profound feelings of disconnection from others.
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions: Cognitive resources become depleted when our minds are preoccupied with threat assessment and emotional regulation, making routine tasks feel overwhelming.
Changes in sleep and eating patterns: Stress hormones disrupt circadian rhythms and appetite regulation, leading to insomnia, oversleeping, loss of appetite, or emotional eating.
Emotional volatility and mood swings: The psychological burden of crisis can manifest as irritability, sudden tearfulness, anger outbursts, or emotional numbness.
Physical symptoms of stress: Headaches, muscle tension, digestive issues, and fatigue often accompany the mental strain of crisis situations.
Hypervigilance and heightened startle response: Remaining in a constant state of alert can exhaust the nervous system and make relaxation feel impossible.
Grief and loss: Crises often involve losing people, opportunities, routines, or versions of ourselves we once knew, triggering complex grief responses.

The Neurobiology of Crisis Response

Understanding what happens in our brains during crisis can help normalize our experiences and inform our coping strategies. When we perceive a threat, the amygdala—our brain’s alarm system—activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, flooding our bodies with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This cascade prepares us for fight, flight, or freeze responses.

In short-term situations, this system works brilliantly to keep us safe. However, during prolonged crises, chronic activation of stress responses can lead to changes in brain structure and function. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functions like planning and decision-making, can become less active, while the amygdala becomes hyperactive. This neurobiological shift explains why we might struggle with tasks that normally feel effortless and why emotional reactions might feel more intense than usual.

Vulnerable Populations and Differential Impact

While crises affect everyone, certain populations face disproportionate mental health impacts. Individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions may experience exacerbation of symptoms. Healthcare workers and first responders often face moral injury and compassion fatigue. Children and adolescents may struggle with developmental disruptions and lack the cognitive tools to process complex emotions. Older adults might experience increased isolation and health anxiety. Marginalized communities often face compounded stressors related to systemic inequities that become more pronounced during crises.

Recognizing these differential impacts helps us understand that mental health support during crises cannot be one-size-fits-all. Tailored approaches that account for individual circumstances, resources, and vulnerabilities are essential for effective intervention and support.

Comprehensive Strategies for Maintaining Mental Health During Crises

Navigating mental health during crisis requires a multifaceted approach that addresses our psychological, physical, social, and spiritual needs. The following strategies are grounded in psychological research and clinical practice, offering practical tools that can be adapted to individual circumstances and preferences.

Establish and Maintain a Structured Routine

When external circumstances feel chaotic and unpredictable, creating internal structure through daily routines provides a powerful anchor for mental stability. Routines reduce the cognitive load of constant decision-making, create predictability in an unpredictable world, and help maintain circadian rhythms that are essential for both physical and mental health.

The psychological benefits of routine extend beyond simple time management. Routines create a sense of agency and control, reminding us that even when we cannot control external events, we can still make choices about how we structure our days. This sense of personal efficacy is a crucial protective factor against feelings of helplessness that often accompany crisis situations.

Building an Effective Daily Routine

Set consistent wake-up and sleep times: Maintaining regular sleep-wake cycles supports hormonal balance, mood regulation, and cognitive function. Aim to wake up and go to bed within the same 30-minute window each day, even on weekends.
Create morning and evening rituals: Bookend your day with intentional practices that signal transitions between rest and activity. Morning rituals might include stretching, journaling, or enjoying a mindful cup of coffee. Evening rituals could involve reading, gentle yoga, or gratitude reflection.
Schedule dedicated time blocks for different activities: Designate specific times for work, exercise, meals, social connection, and relaxation. This prevents activities from bleeding into one another and helps maintain boundaries, especially when working from home.
Include transition periods between activities: Build in 5-10 minute buffers between tasks to allow your mind to shift gears, preventing the mental fatigue that comes from constant context-switching.
Plan meals and snacks at consistent times: Regular eating patterns support stable blood sugar levels, which directly impact mood, energy, and cognitive function.
Build in flexibility: While structure is important, rigid adherence to schedules can create additional stress. Allow room for spontaneity and adjust your routine as needed without self-judgment.
Include non-negotiable self-care activities: Treat activities that support your mental health—like exercise, meditation, or creative pursuits—with the same importance as work obligations.

Adapting Routines to Crisis Circumstances

During crises, our capacity for maintaining complex routines may fluctuate. Start with a minimal viable routine that includes just the essentials: sleep schedule, basic hygiene, one meal, and one activity that brings comfort or joy. As your capacity increases, gradually add more structure. Remember that maintaining even a simplified routine during difficult times is an accomplishment worth celebrating.

Human beings are fundamentally social creatures, and our mental health is deeply intertwined with the quality of our relationships and sense of belonging. During crises, when isolation and disconnection are common experiences, actively maintaining and nurturing social connections becomes even more critical for psychological well-being.

Social connection serves multiple protective functions for mental health. It provides emotional support and validation, reduces feelings of loneliness, offers practical assistance and information sharing, creates opportunities for positive experiences and laughter, and reminds us that we’re not alone in our struggles. Research consistently shows that strong social support is one of the most powerful predictors of resilience and recovery from adversity.

Strategies for Maintaining Connection During Crisis

Schedule regular video calls with family and friends: Visual connection provides richer communication than phone calls alone, allowing us to pick up on facial expressions and body language that convey emotional nuance. Set recurring appointments to ensure connection doesn’t fall off your priority list during busy or difficult times.
Join online support groups or forums: Connecting with others who share similar experiences can reduce isolation and provide valuable coping strategies. Look for moderated groups focused on specific challenges you’re facing, whether related to mental health, caregiving, job loss, or other crisis-related issues.
Participate in virtual events, classes, or workshops: Engaging in shared activities creates a sense of community and purpose. Consider online book clubs, fitness classes, cooking workshops, or educational webinars that align with your interests.
Practice intentional communication: Rather than superficial check-ins, create space for meaningful conversation. Ask open-ended questions, share vulnerably about your own experiences, and practice active listening without immediately trying to fix or minimize others’ struggles.
Maintain connections through multiple channels: Mix synchronous communication (video calls, phone conversations) with asynchronous methods (text messages, emails, voice notes) to accommodate different schedules and energy levels.
Reach out to weak ties: Don’t limit connection efforts to close friends and family. Casual acquaintances, colleagues, and community members can also provide meaningful interaction and may be experiencing similar needs for connection.
Offer support to others: Helping others not only strengthens relationships but also provides a sense of purpose and efficacy. Small gestures like checking in on neighbors, sharing resources, or offering practical assistance can be mutually beneficial.
Create or join accountability partnerships: Partner with someone to support mutual goals, whether related to exercise, creative projects, or mental health practices. Regular check-ins provide both connection and motivation.

During crises, social connection can feel complicated. You might struggle with “Zoom fatigue” from excessive video calls, feel guilty about burdening others with your struggles, or find that relationships are strained by differing perspectives on crisis-related issues. It’s important to honor your capacity and set boundaries around social interaction. Quality matters more than quantity—a few meaningful connections provide more benefit than numerous superficial interactions. It’s also okay to take breaks from socializing when you need solitude to recharge.

Implement Comprehensive Self-Care Practices

Self-care is often misunderstood as indulgence or luxury, but during crises, it becomes an essential component of mental health maintenance. True self-care encompasses the deliberate actions we take to support our physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being. It’s not about perfection or elaborate rituals—it’s about consistently meeting our basic needs and engaging in activities that replenish rather than deplete us.

Physical Self-Care

Our physical and mental health are inextricably linked. Taking care of our bodies directly impacts our emotional resilience, cognitive function, and psychological well-being.

Engage in regular physical activity: Exercise is one of the most effective interventions for anxiety and depression. It doesn’t require gym access or intense workouts—walking, dancing, yoga, stretching, or bodyweight exercises all provide significant mental health benefits. Aim for at least 30 minutes of movement most days, but remember that any movement is better than none.
Prioritize sleep hygiene: Quality sleep is foundational for emotional regulation and stress management. Create a sleep-conducive environment by keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. Limit screen time for at least an hour before bed, avoid caffeine in the afternoon, and develop a relaxing pre-sleep routine.
Nourish your body with balanced nutrition: While comfort eating is a common stress response, prioritizing nutrient-dense foods supports brain function and mood stability. Focus on whole foods, adequate protein, healthy fats, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Stay hydrated throughout the day.
Limit alcohol and substance use: While substances might provide temporary relief from distress, they ultimately worsen anxiety and depression and interfere with healthy coping mechanisms.
Spend time in nature: Even brief exposure to natural environments reduces stress hormones and improves mood. If outdoor access is limited, bring nature indoors with plants, nature sounds, or views of natural scenes.
Practice good hygiene routines: Maintaining basic self-care like showering, brushing teeth, and wearing clean clothes might feel difficult during crisis but supports both physical health and self-respect.

Emotional and Psychological Self-Care

Tending to our emotional needs requires intentional practices that help us process feelings, regulate emotions, and maintain psychological equilibrium.

Practice mindfulness and meditation: Mindfulness—the practice of present-moment awareness without judgment—helps interrupt rumination about the past or worry about the future. Even five minutes of daily meditation can reduce anxiety and improve emotional regulation. Apps like Headspace, Calm, or Insight Timer offer guided practices for beginners.
Engage in expressive activities: Writing, art, music, dance, or other creative outlets provide channels for processing complex emotions that might be difficult to articulate verbally. Journaling, in particular, has been shown to reduce intrusive thoughts and improve psychological well-being.
Set boundaries with news and social media: While staying informed is important, constant exposure to crisis-related news creates a state of chronic stress. Designate specific times for checking news (perhaps once or twice daily) and limit duration. Curate social media feeds to reduce exposure to triggering content.
Practice self-compassion: Treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a good friend. Recognize that struggling during crisis is normal, not a personal failing. Notice self-critical thoughts and consciously reframe them with understanding and gentleness.
Engage in activities that bring joy or meaning: Even during difficult times, making space for pleasure, beauty, or purpose provides psychological nourishment. This might include hobbies, learning new skills, engaging with art or music, or contributing to causes you care about.
Allow yourself to feel your feelings: Suppressing or avoiding difficult emotions often intensifies them. Create safe spaces to acknowledge and experience your full range of feelings without judgment, knowing that emotions are temporary and informative.

Spiritual and Existential Self-Care

Crises often prompt questions about meaning, purpose, and values. Tending to spiritual or existential needs—whether through religious practice, connection to something larger than ourselves, or reflection on what matters most—can provide comfort and direction during uncertain times.

Engage in practices that connect you to your values: Clarify what matters most to you and find small ways to align your daily actions with those values, creating a sense of integrity and purpose.
Practice gratitude: Regularly noting things you’re grateful for—even small things like a warm cup of tea or a kind message—shifts attention toward positive aspects of life without denying difficulties. Consider keeping a gratitude journal or sharing appreciations with loved ones.
Participate in religious or spiritual practices: If you have a spiritual tradition, maintain connection through prayer, meditation, scripture reading, or virtual religious services. If you’re not religious, consider practices like spending time in nature, contemplative reading, or reflection on meaning and purpose.
Contribute to something beyond yourself: Volunteering, helping neighbors, or supporting causes you believe in creates a sense of purpose and reminds us of our capacity to make a positive difference even during difficult times.

Recognize When to Seek Professional Help

While self-help strategies are valuable, they’re not always sufficient for managing mental health during crisis. Recognizing when professional support is needed—and actually reaching out for it—is a sign of strength and self-awareness, not weakness. Mental health professionals have specialized training in helping people navigate psychological distress and can provide interventions that go beyond what we can accomplish on our own.

Signs That Professional Help May Be Needed

Persistent symptoms that interfere with daily functioning: If anxiety, depression, or other symptoms prevent you from meeting basic responsibilities or engaging in activities that matter to you for more than two weeks, professional support can help.
Thoughts of self-harm or suicide: Any thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life require immediate professional attention. Contact a crisis helpline, go to an emergency room, or call 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the United States) for immediate support.
Substance use as a primary coping mechanism: If you’re increasingly relying on alcohol, drugs, or other substances to manage distress, a mental health professional can help develop healthier coping strategies and assess for substance use disorders.
Relationship difficulties or social withdrawal: If you’re experiencing significant conflict in relationships or find yourself increasingly isolated despite efforts to connect, therapy can help address underlying issues.
Physical symptoms without medical explanation: Chronic pain, digestive issues, or other physical symptoms that persist despite medical evaluation may have psychological components that therapy can address.
Feeling stuck or overwhelmed despite self-help efforts: If you’ve tried implementing coping strategies on your own without improvement, professional guidance can help identify barriers and develop more effective approaches.
Trauma responses: If you’re experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, or other symptoms related to traumatic experiences, trauma-informed therapy can facilitate healing.

Options for Professional Mental Health Support

Individual therapy or counseling: Working one-on-one with a licensed therapist provides personalized support and evidence-based interventions tailored to your specific needs. Therapeutic approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) have strong research support for treating crisis-related mental health challenges.
Online therapy platforms: Teletherapy has become increasingly accessible and effective, offering convenience and flexibility. Platforms like BetterHelp, Talkspace, or provider-specific telehealth services connect you with licensed therapists via video, phone, or messaging.
Group therapy or support groups: Facilitated groups provide peer support, normalize experiences, and offer opportunities to learn from others facing similar challenges. Many therapists and community organizations offer virtual group options.
Psychiatric evaluation and medication management: For some individuals, medication can be an important component of mental health treatment. Psychiatrists can evaluate whether medication might be helpful and provide ongoing management.
Crisis helplines and text lines: For immediate support, crisis helplines provide free, confidential assistance 24/7. In the U.S., dial 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): Many employers offer EAPs that provide free, confidential counseling sessions and referrals to mental health resources.
Community mental health centers: These centers often provide services on a sliding fee scale based on income, making mental health care more accessible regardless of financial resources.
University counseling centers: If you’re a student, your institution likely offers free or low-cost counseling services.

Overcoming Barriers to Seeking Help

Despite the benefits of professional support, many people face barriers to accessing mental health care. Financial concerns, stigma, lack of available providers, uncertainty about where to start, or cultural factors may prevent people from seeking help. If cost is a concern, explore sliding-scale providers, community mental health centers, or online therapy platforms that may be more affordable than traditional therapy. Many therapists offer reduced-fee slots for clients with financial need.

If you’re unsure where to start, consider asking your primary care physician for referrals, checking with your insurance provider for in-network mental health professionals, or using online directories like Psychology Today’s therapist finder to search for providers by specialty, location, and insurance accepted. Remember that finding the right therapist may take time—it’s okay to try a few different providers before finding the best fit.

Develop and Strengthen Resilience

Resilience—the capacity to adapt and recover from adversity—is not a fixed trait that some people have and others lack. Rather, it’s a set of skills, attitudes, and behaviors that can be developed and strengthened over time. Building resilience doesn’t mean avoiding distress or “toughing it out” without support; it means developing the internal and external resources that help us navigate challenges with greater flexibility and effectiveness.

Core Components of Resilience

Research on resilience has identified several key factors that contribute to our ability to weather crises and emerge with our mental health intact or even strengthened.

Focus on what you can control: During crises, much feels outside our control, which can fuel anxiety and helplessness. Resilience involves consciously directing attention and energy toward aspects of life we can influence—our responses, choices, attitudes, and actions—rather than ruminating on what we cannot change. This doesn’t mean ignoring problems but rather channeling our limited resources toward effective action.
Develop problem-solving skills: Resilient individuals approach challenges with a problem-solving mindset rather than becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude of difficulties. Break large problems into smaller, manageable steps. Brainstorm multiple potential solutions without immediately judging them. Evaluate options based on feasibility and likely outcomes. Take action on one small step, then reassess and adjust as needed.
Maintain a balanced perspective: Resilience involves holding both the difficulty of current circumstances and the possibility of positive outcomes. This isn’t toxic positivity that denies real challenges, but rather a realistic optimism that acknowledges hardship while maintaining hope and recognizing that situations can change.
Practice acceptance: Paradoxically, accepting reality as it is—rather than fighting against or denying it—often creates space for effective action and reduces the additional suffering that comes from resisting what we cannot change. Acceptance doesn’t mean approval or resignation; it means acknowledging what is true so we can respond skillfully.
Cultivate meaning and purpose: Finding meaning in adversity—whether through personal growth, helping others, or connecting to values—can transform suffering into something more bearable and even generative. Ask yourself what this experience might teach you, how it might deepen your compassion or understanding, or how you might use your experience to help others in the future.
Build a strong support network: Resilience is not a solo endeavor. Having people we can turn to for emotional support, practical assistance, and different perspectives strengthens our capacity to cope with challenges. Invest in relationships during good times so those connections are available during difficult ones.
Develop emotional regulation skills: The ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotional responses—without either suppressing feelings or being overwhelmed by them—is central to resilience. This includes practices like mindfulness, self-soothing techniques, and cognitive reframing.
Maintain physical health: Our physical state directly impacts our psychological resilience. Regular exercise, adequate sleep, good nutrition, and stress management practices provide the physiological foundation for mental resilience.

Practices for Building Resilience

Reflect on past adversity: Consider previous challenges you’ve faced and how you coped with them. What strengths did you draw on? What strategies were helpful? What did you learn? Recognizing that you’ve survived difficulties before can bolster confidence in your ability to navigate current challenges.
Practice cognitive flexibility: Challenge rigid thinking patterns and practice considering situations from multiple perspectives. When you notice catastrophic thinking, ask yourself: What’s another way to look at this? What would I tell a friend in this situation? What’s the evidence for and against this thought?
Set realistic goals: Having goals provides direction and purpose, but during crises, it’s important to adjust expectations to match current capacity. Set small, achievable goals that create a sense of progress and accomplishment without overwhelming your resources.
Develop a growth mindset: View challenges as opportunities for learning and development rather than as threats or evidence of inadequacy. Embrace the idea that abilities and understanding can be developed through effort and experience.
Practice self-compassion: Treat yourself with kindness during difficult times rather than harsh self-judgment. Recognize that struggle is part of the shared human experience, not a personal failing.
Maintain routines and structure: As discussed earlier, routines provide stability and a sense of control that supports resilience.
Engage in activities that foster mastery: Learning new skills or engaging in activities where you can see improvement over time builds self-efficacy—the belief in your ability to accomplish goals—which is a key component of resilience.
Practice gratitude: Regularly acknowledging positive aspects of life, even small ones, helps maintain balanced perspective and supports psychological well-being.

Post-Traumatic Growth

While we typically focus on recovering from crisis to return to our previous baseline, research on post-traumatic growth reveals that many people actually experience positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with adversity. This doesn’t mean that suffering is good or necessary, but rather that it’s possible to find meaning, develop new strengths, deepen relationships, gain appreciation for life, or experience spiritual growth through the process of navigating challenges. Recognizing this possibility can provide hope without minimizing the real difficulties of crisis experiences.

Managing Information and Media Consumption

During crises, we’re often inundated with information from news outlets, social media, and personal networks. While staying informed is important for making decisions and taking appropriate precautions, excessive exposure to crisis-related information can significantly worsen anxiety, fear, and feelings of helplessness. Learning to manage information consumption is a crucial skill for maintaining mental health during challenging times.

The Impact of Information Overload

Constant exposure to distressing news creates a state of chronic stress activation. Our brains are wired to pay attention to threats, and media outlets know this—negative, fear-inducing content captures attention more effectively than neutral or positive information. This creates a feedback loop where we feel compelled to keep checking for updates, which increases our distress, which drives more checking behavior.

Additionally, the 24-hour news cycle and social media algorithms often amplify the most extreme, emotionally charged content, creating a distorted perception of reality that can make situations feel more dangerous or hopeless than they actually are. This phenomenon, sometimes called “mean world syndrome,” can significantly impact mental health and decision-making.

Strategies for Healthy Information Consumption

Set specific times for checking news: Rather than constantly monitoring updates throughout the day, designate one or two specific times to catch up on news. This provides necessary information without maintaining chronic stress activation.
Limit duration of news consumption: Set a timer for 15-30 minutes and stop when it goes off, even if you feel compelled to continue. This prevents the hours-long doom-scrolling sessions that leave us feeling depleted and anxious.
Choose reliable, balanced news sources: Seek out reputable journalism that provides factual information without sensationalism. Avoid sources that primarily traffic in outrage, fear, or conspiracy theories.
Curate your social media feeds: Unfollow, mute, or hide content from accounts that consistently increase your distress without providing useful information. Follow accounts that offer balanced perspectives, practical resources, or uplifting content.
Disable push notifications: Turn off news alerts and social media notifications so you’re not constantly interrupted by crisis-related information. Check on your own schedule rather than being at the mercy of algorithmic attention-grabbing.
Balance crisis information with other content: Intentionally seek out content unrelated to the crisis—whether entertainment, educational material, or creative inspiration—to give your mind breaks from threat-focused processing.
Verify information before sharing: During crises, misinformation spreads rapidly. Before sharing information, especially if it’s alarming, verify it through reliable sources. This reduces the spread of misinformation and prevents you from inadvertently increasing others’ anxiety.
Notice your emotional response: Pay attention to how you feel during and after consuming news or social media. If you consistently feel worse without gaining useful information, that’s a sign to adjust your consumption patterns.
Engage in active rather than passive consumption: When you do consume news, do so actively—reading articles rather than scrolling feeds, taking notes on important information, or discussing content with others. This engages higher-level cognitive processing rather than the reactive, emotional processing that passive scrolling triggers.

Supporting Children and Adolescents During Crises

Young people experience crises differently than adults, and they require age-appropriate support to maintain mental health during challenging times. Children and adolescents are still developing emotional regulation skills, cognitive frameworks for understanding complex situations, and coping mechanisms for managing stress. Additionally, their developmental needs for social connection, routine, and exploration may be disrupted by crisis circumstances.

Understanding Children’s Crisis Responses

Children may express distress differently than adults. Younger children might show regression in behaviors like toileting or sleep, increased clinginess, or changes in play themes. School-age children might exhibit irritability, difficulty concentrating, or physical complaints like stomachaches. Adolescents might show increased risk-taking, social withdrawal, or conflicts with authority figures. Recognizing these behaviors as potential stress responses rather than simple misbehavior is important for providing appropriate support.

Strategies for Supporting Young People

Maintain routines and structure: Children thrive on predictability. Keeping consistent schedules for meals, sleep, schoolwork, and activities provides security during uncertain times.
Provide age-appropriate information: Answer children’s questions honestly but without overwhelming them with details they’re not ready to process. Tailor explanations to their developmental level and follow their lead about how much information they want.
Validate their feelings: Let children know that all feelings are okay and normal responses to difficult situations. Avoid dismissing or minimizing their concerns, even if they seem small from an adult perspective.
Model healthy coping: Children learn more from what we do than what we say. Demonstrate healthy stress management, emotional regulation, and problem-solving in your own behavior.
Maintain connection with peers: Social relationships are crucial for children’s development and well-being. Facilitate safe opportunities for peer interaction, whether in-person or virtual, depending on circumstances.
Encourage expression through play and creativity: Young children especially process experiences through play. Provide materials and opportunities for creative expression without directing or correcting their play themes.
Limit their exposure to news and adult conversations: Children don’t need constant exposure to crisis-related information. Be mindful of what they’re hearing and seeing, including adult conversations they might overhear.
Create opportunities for control and contribution: Help children feel empowered by involving them in age-appropriate ways, whether through helping with household tasks, creating care packages, or other activities that give them a sense of agency.
Watch for signs of significant distress: If children show persistent changes in behavior, mood, or functioning, consider seeking professional support from a child psychologist or counselor.

Workplace Mental Health During Crises

For many people, work continues during crises, often with added stressors like remote work transitions, increased workload, job insecurity, or the challenges of frontline work during dangerous conditions. Maintaining mental health while meeting professional responsibilities requires both individual strategies and, ideally, organizational support.

Individual Strategies for Workplace Mental Health

Set clear boundaries between work and personal time: When working from home, create physical and temporal boundaries. Designate a workspace if possible, and establish clear start and end times for your workday.
Take regular breaks: Step away from your workspace periodically to stretch, move, or simply rest your eyes and mind. Short breaks throughout the day improve both productivity and well-being.
Communicate with supervisors about capacity: If you’re struggling to meet expectations due to crisis-related challenges, have honest conversations about priorities and realistic workloads.
Maintain connection with colleagues: Remote work can feel isolating. Schedule virtual coffee chats or informal check-ins with coworkers to maintain social connection beyond task-focused meetings.
Use available resources: Take advantage of Employee Assistance Programs, mental health days, flexible scheduling, or other benefits your employer offers.
Practice single-tasking: Multitasking increases stress and reduces effectiveness. Focus on one task at a time, giving it your full attention before moving to the next.

Organizational Approaches to Supporting Employee Mental Health

Employers play a crucial role in supporting workforce mental health during crises. Organizations that prioritize employee well-being often see benefits in terms of retention, productivity, and morale. Effective organizational approaches include providing flexible work arrangements, offering mental health resources and benefits, training managers to recognize and respond to employee distress, creating cultures where mental health discussions are normalized rather than stigmatized, and adjusting expectations and workloads to account for crisis-related challenges.

Financial Stress and Mental Health

Many crises involve economic impacts that create or exacerbate financial stress. The relationship between financial strain and mental health is bidirectional—financial problems contribute to anxiety and depression, while mental health challenges can make it harder to manage finances effectively. Addressing both aspects is important for overall well-being.

Managing Financial Stress

Assess your situation realistically: Avoiding financial realities often increases anxiety. Take stock of your actual financial situation, including income, expenses, debts, and resources. Having clear information, even if it’s difficult, reduces the anxiety of uncertainty.
Create a crisis budget: Prioritize essential expenses and identify areas where you can reduce spending temporarily. Focus on meeting basic needs first.
Explore available resources: Research assistance programs, unemployment benefits, payment deferrals, or other resources available during crisis situations. Many organizations and government programs offer support specifically during emergencies.
Communicate with creditors: If you’re struggling to meet financial obligations, contact creditors proactively to discuss options like payment plans, deferrals, or hardship programs.
Seek financial counseling: Nonprofit credit counseling agencies offer free or low-cost assistance with budgeting, debt management, and financial planning.
Focus on what you can control: While you may not be able to control income loss or economic conditions, you can control your spending decisions, efforts to find additional income sources, and how you use available resources.
Separate your worth from your financial situation: Financial difficulties don’t reflect your value as a person. Practice self-compassion and remember that many people face similar challenges during crises.

Long-Term Mental Health Considerations

While immediate crisis response focuses on managing acute distress, it’s also important to consider longer-term mental health impacts and recovery. Some crises are brief, while others extend for months or years. Understanding the trajectory of crisis response can help normalize experiences and inform ongoing self-care.

Phases of Crisis Response

Psychological responses to crisis often follow predictable patterns, though individual experiences vary. The initial impact phase typically involves shock, disbelief, or acute stress responses. This may be followed by a heroic or honeymoon phase where adrenaline and community solidarity create a sense of purpose and energy. As crises continue, a disillusionment phase often emerges, characterized by exhaustion, frustration, and grief as the full scope of losses becomes apparent. Eventually, a reconstruction phase begins, where individuals and communities adapt to new realities and rebuild.

Understanding these phases helps normalize the experience of feeling worse as time goes on, even as the acute crisis may be stabilizing. The exhaustion and grief that emerge after initial adrenaline fades are normal responses, not signs of weakness or failure.

Sustaining Mental Health Practices Over Time

During extended crises, the challenge shifts from acute crisis management to sustainable long-term practices. This requires finding a pace you can maintain, adjusting expectations to match reality, building in regular rest and recovery, maintaining hope while acknowledging difficulties, and staying connected to sources of meaning and purpose. It’s also important to recognize and celebrate small victories and moments of joy, even while acknowledging ongoing challenges.

Recognizing and Addressing Burnout

Extended crisis conditions can lead to burnout—a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. Signs of burnout include chronic fatigue, cynicism or detachment, reduced effectiveness, and loss of motivation. If you recognize these signs, it’s important to take them seriously and make changes. This might involve reducing commitments, seeking additional support, taking time off if possible, or working with a mental health professional to develop recovery strategies.

Cultural Considerations in Mental Health Support

Mental health experiences, expressions, and help-seeking behaviors are shaped by cultural contexts. What constitutes mental health, how distress is expressed, and what interventions are considered appropriate vary across cultures. Effective mental health support during crises must account for cultural diversity and avoid one-size-fits-all approaches.

Culturally Responsive Mental Health Practices

Recognize diverse expressions of distress: Psychological distress may be expressed through physical symptoms, spiritual concerns, or relational difficulties rather than explicitly emotional terms in some cultural contexts.
Honor cultural healing practices: Traditional healing practices, spiritual rituals, or community-based support may be important components of mental health care for many individuals. These can complement rather than replace evidence-based interventions.
Address systemic and structural factors: For marginalized communities, crisis-related distress is often compounded by ongoing experiences of discrimination, inequity, and systemic barriers. Effective support must acknowledge these realities.
Seek culturally competent providers: When seeking professional help, look for providers who have training and experience working with your cultural community and who demonstrate cultural humility.
Involve family and community: In many cultures, mental health is understood as a collective rather than purely individual concern. Involving family members or community supports may be important for effective intervention.
Address language barriers: Access mental health resources in your preferred language when possible, or work with providers who offer interpretation services.

Technology and Mental Health During Crises

Technology plays a complex role in mental health during crises. Digital tools can provide access to support, information, and connection, but they can also contribute to information overload, social comparison, and disconnection from present-moment experience. Using technology intentionally can maximize benefits while minimizing harms.

Beneficial Uses of Technology

Teletherapy and online counseling: Digital platforms have made mental health care more accessible, eliminating barriers related to transportation, scheduling, and geographic location.
Mental health apps: Apps for meditation, mood tracking, cognitive behavioral therapy exercises, or sleep support can supplement professional care or provide self-help tools.
Online support communities: Digital forums and support groups connect people with shared experiences, reducing isolation and providing peer support.
Virtual social connection: Video calls, messaging apps, and social media enable connection when in-person interaction isn’t possible.
Access to information and resources: The internet provides access to mental health education, crisis resources, and self-help materials.

Potential Pitfalls and Mitigation Strategies

Social media comparison: Comparing your crisis experience to curated presentations of others’ lives can worsen distress. Remember that social media rarely reflects full reality. Consider limiting social media use or curating feeds to reduce comparison triggers.
Information overload: As discussed earlier, excessive news consumption worsens anxiety. Set boundaries around information consumption.
Screen fatigue: Extended screen time can cause physical discomfort and mental exhaustion. Take regular breaks, use blue light filters, and balance screen-based activities with offline pursuits.
Privacy and security concerns: When using mental health apps or online services, review privacy policies and understand how your data will be used and protected.
Quality variation: Not all mental health apps or online resources are evidence-based or effective. Look for tools developed by mental health professionals and backed by research.

Moving Forward: From Crisis to Recovery

While this article focuses on maintaining mental health during crises, it’s important to acknowledge that crises eventually end or evolve into new normals. The transition from acute crisis to recovery or adaptation brings its own challenges and opportunities for mental health.

Navigating the Recovery Phase

Recovery doesn’t mean returning to exactly how things were before—crises often create lasting changes in circumstances, perspectives, or priorities. Healthy recovery involves integrating crisis experiences into your life story, grieving losses while recognizing growth, adjusting to new realities while maintaining hope, rebuilding routines and relationships, and finding meaning in the experience.

Be patient with yourself during recovery. Healing isn’t linear, and you may experience setbacks or difficult emotions even as circumstances improve. This is normal and doesn’t mean you’re failing at recovery.

Preparing for Future Challenges

While we can’t prevent all future crises, we can build resilience and resources that will serve us when challenges arise. This includes maintaining mental health practices during good times, not just crises; cultivating strong relationships and support networks; developing diverse coping skills; addressing mental health concerns proactively; building financial and practical resources when possible; and reflecting on lessons learned from past challenges.

Conclusion

Maintaining mental health during crises is both challenging and essential. While crises disrupt our sense of safety, predictability, and control, we have more agency than we might initially recognize. By implementing structured routines, nurturing social connections, practicing comprehensive self-care, seeking professional help when needed, and building resilience, we can navigate even the most difficult circumstances with greater psychological well-being.

Remember that mental health exists on a continuum, and struggling during crisis is a normal response to abnormal circumstances, not a personal failing. The strategies outlined in this article aren’t about achieving perfect mental health or eliminating all distress—they’re about supporting yourself through difficulty with compassion, intention, and the best tools available.

Mental health maintenance during crisis is not a solo endeavor. We need each other—for support, connection, practical assistance, and the reminder that we’re not alone in our struggles. Reaching out for help, whether from friends, family, community resources, or mental health professionals, is a sign of wisdom and strength.

As you navigate your own crisis experiences, be patient with yourself. Healing and adaptation take time. Celebrate small victories, practice self-compassion when things feel difficult, and trust that with support and intentional effort, you can move through this challenging time and emerge with your mental health intact or even strengthened.

For additional resources and support, consider exploring the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), MentalHealth.gov, or the American Psychological Association’s crisis resources. These organizations provide evidence-based information, support services, and connections to professional care that can supplement the strategies discussed in this article.

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