Tag: pandemic

feeling depressed coping depression during covid

Feeling Depressed? Coping with Depression during COVID

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If you have been feeling increasingly down or depressed lately, you are not alone. Surveys worldwide have shown that the vast majority of people feel that the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant negative effect on their mental health and wellbeing—and it’s no surprise why. The stress of social isolation compounded with the daily onslaught of negative news—along with existing worries about health, work, and family life—is more than enough to trigger depression for the first time or exacerbate symptoms in those who have already been diagnosed.

No matter where you are in your journey, this article will provide some practical strategies that will help you counteract negative thoughts and feelings of loneliness while improving your mood and helping you feel less depressed.

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PhoebeMD Blog COVID Health Heart Transplant

Thirteen Years of Training For A Pandemic

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By Don P. | Guest Contributor

On April 28, 2007, my life as I knew it came to an abrupt halt and turned 180 degrees. I had a massive heart attack that day, and a triple bypass surgery the following day. To really make my story special, I then flat-lined over a hundred times during the next twelve or so days, and followed that with a very high drama heart transplant and a five day stint on ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and was conscious (to a degree) while on a ventilator—the single worst memory in my lifetime. (ECMO is a machine that is basically an artificial lung to oxygenate your blood while your lungs rest/heal).

A week after my heart transplant, I regained consciousness and started to rebuild my body and my life, and unbeknownst to me, I was placed in training for this coronavirus pandemic…

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PhoebeMD Poetry Blog Ballad of Hope Poem

A Ballad of Hope Amid a Time of Crisis

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By Forrest Rivers | Featured Author

The year was 2020.

The world was plagued by a pandemic
that inflicted mass casualties
across the land.
But set against this backdrop
of death, fear and deprivation,
A movement of higher consciousness
was well underway.

Driven into isolation
to control the deadly virus,
Citizens of the world
came to have gratitude
for all the little things
they had taken for granted:
Smiles from passing strangers,
Sentimental hugs,
Uplifting time spent with
dear friends and family
And the sweet joys of
live song and dance
Were all things sorely
missed and remembered
Nostalgically….

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