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“In the past few months, and for the foreseeable future, employers have been or will begin soon to strategize ways to support employee mental health as workforces around the world continue to adjust to new work environments, the persistent risk of Covid-19, and an uncertain future. It takes a collective effort and bold leadership to […]

Parents: It’s okay. It’s okay if this pandemic is throwing off your parenting style. Crises tend to do that. Mary Katharine Ham, a writer and CNN commentator, knows firsthand: She lost her spouse, and her identity as a parent, in 2015, while pregnant with their second child. “The good news is that the parent you are today is not the parent you have to be tomorrow,” she advises. “Your parenting identity is not nearly as intransigent as your pants-less, potty-training toddler.” It’s also okay to take breaks and care for yourself. Actually, it’s not just okay; it’s crucial: “Amid all the concern about their children’s emotional health,” our Dear Therapist columnist, Lori Gottlieb, notes, “parents tend to forget that the most important thing they can do is take care of their own emotional health.

Like much of the world, I’ve spent the last few weeks in an anxious haze, walking aimlessly between my apartment’s three rooms because there’s nowhere else to go. I’m taking Emergen-C and checking my temperature twice a day. I have an anxiety disorder, and I am also, quite reasonably, afraid that I will get COVID-19. One common symptom of COVID-19 is chest tightness and shortness of breath. As it happens, chest tightness and shortness of breath are also common symptoms of anxiety. So last week, when my chest felt tight for three days and I monitored my breath so closely that breathing started to feel unnatural, I worried, and worried some more.