Tools for Coping with Extreme Stress: Insights from a Psychiatrist Living with a Mental Health Condition

Hello, I’m Professor Ahmed Hankir. I’m a consultant psychiatrist and person living with a mental health condition. Stress can come in many different forms such as intimate partner violence or poverty and unemployment, online abuse and bullying and harassment. These are the three tools that I personally utilise to help me cope and respond to extreme stresses. One social connectivity. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed, I know that I can reach out to my best friend Vassim and confide in him too. Physical activity I personally love to run. But you do whatever you enjoy doing the most. That could be going for a walk, swimming, cycling, gardening or participating in team sports. 3. Creativity each person has their own unique way of expressing themselves. That could be through the vehicles of doodling, drawing or journaling. I find expressing myself through the creative outlets of spoken word, poetry and improvisation can be deeply therapeutic. It is better to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to coping and responding to extreme stresses. Otherwise we increase the risk of our mental health deteriorating. Remember, there is no health without mental health. Protect your minds and protect your hearts. And bye for now.