Episode 229: How Has The Pandemic Affected Our Mental Health?

Dr. Tanaka founded Coronado Psych with the mission to offer clients evidence-based psychological services. She’s dedicated the majority of the last decade to developing and providing evidence-based, culturally sensitive, and accessible psychological services to patients. Dr. Tanaka specializes in working with young adults, adults, and seniors struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, stress, life transitions, health behavior changes, health-related psychological distress, and her practice offers services to children, adolescents, and adults struggling with a wide range of concerns. In addition to providing in-person psychotherapy, Dr. Tanaka has extensive experience providing remote psychological services through telehealth. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want To Miss: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. Whether it's yourself, a staff member in your business or someone you care about, we have all felt the impacts of a stressful year behind us and the pandemic is still impacting lives everywhere. One of the first things Dr. Rika mentions on the show, is how a key part of identifying a concern or issue is to recognize it is completely acceptable to recognize something is wrong and talk about. Recognizing the signs or symptoms of depression, anxiety or other cues that you or someone you care about may be struggling with. Anxiety and depression can present differently from person to person. Kids are especially different. Dr. Rika shares some of the ways these symptoms show up and also gives tips on how to determine whether or not something more serious is going on while being careful to let the professionals do the diagnosing. How to approach someone you care about or suspect may be struggling. What to say? How to say it without being offensive or making them feel embarrassed. The importance of creating a safe space to share and not feel judged. Telehealth and Virtual Therapy. Is it here to stay? Did you know there are some accepted benefits of utilizing this form of help? In fact, you may be surprised to learn that you have access to more options and greater levels of care. Listen to this section to learn more. Show Highlights How do we recognize the signs of anxiety or depression that could also be related to the pandemic?  [4:10] How should we approach or begin a conversation with someone we care about when we suspect they are struggling with anxiety or depression? [7:55] The importance of providing a safe space for someone to feel comfortable sharing. The importance of our own “give and take” in helping someone not feel judged. [8:00] Creating safe spaces while simultaneously maintaining and keeping up healthy relationships. Taking the pressure off and “just checking in.” [10:20} Virtual Therapy and Telehealth. Why it’s here to stay. The benefits and validity of the virtual experience. It’s just as effective as in person. Learn why. [14:00] Why talking more about it is best. Helping people help themselves and making mental health an open topic [21:00] Links Dr. Rika Tanaka encourages everyone to reach out and talk to a mental health professional if you need to. She also says if you are in California, please feel free to reach out to her through her website at Coronado Psych or send her an email Share The Show: Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 229 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and today I have Dr. Rika with us. I brought her on because you guys, the year 2020 and this pandemic has really taken a toll on a lot of us. And I think the one thing that we really need to address on this podcast is mental health. Everyone deals with this very differently. It has definitely become a buzzword, but I really wanted to get in the nitty-gritty of it and talk about things like how to know what the signs are of depression and stress, and if this pandemic has adversely affected our lives or those around us—like our spouses or children—and what we can do to help ourselves or the ones that we love. I also wanted to talk about how we can get over the stigmatism of therapy or depression, because I know a lot of people are afraid to take that first step. Without further ado, welcome to the show, Dr. Rika. Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk to you about all of this, especially given the year that I think we've all had. It's been very stressful, with lots of twists and turns. Certainly, I think we can all agree that this was not expected for us when we were bringing in the new year last year. Hopefully, we have some better news on the horizon, but for now, it’s taken a toll on a lot of us. I appreciate you creating a forum for us to be able to talk about this and spread the word about the fact that it’s okay not to be okay. Well, thanks so much for being here. For our listeners, I already kind of know you through one of our former Mastermind members, who was actually your pet sitter. Go ahead and tell us where you’re located and what you do. Yes, so I'm located in San Diego, California. I am a licensed clinical psychologist here and I provide psychotherapy and other psychological services to mainly adults in the community. I founded my practice here at the beginning of COVID. I've always wanted to open up my practice down here—it was actually up in Toronto for a very long time, and that's how we have our mutual friend. She was our dog walker up there and created an amazing dog-walking and cat-sitting business. She’s just been a rock star up there. We like to think we were one of her first clients and we love her dearly. We moved down here a couple of years ago, and I’d always dreamt of opening my practice here. Then COVID hit and there was a moment of “what do we do now?” But it was clear that the mental health needs were going to be significant during and after the pandemic, so I decided this was the time to offer those services to the community. That’s who I am and what I do, and I’m extremely passionate about it. Fantastic. Okay, so let’s start on a higher level. How do we even know if we or someone we love has been adversely affected? How do we recognize the signs of stress or depression in our lives? This is an interesting question that a lot of people ask either myself or Dr. Google. There are a few key symptoms we look for when we talk about stress, anxiety, or depression. What’s important to remember is that it can look and feel very different across individuals—it sits on a spectrum. The idea is to recognize a significant change within yourself. Some things to look for include persistent feelings of sadness or losing interest in things you used to enjoy. Maybe you loved playing video games or connecting with friends but now feel indifferent, like there’s no point. If you’re feeling pessimistic, can’t concentrate, your eating or sleeping habits have changed, your body feels heavy, or you can’t sit still—these can all be signs of depression or anxiety. The key is whether there’s been a significant change in your level of distress or your ability to engage in life—work, relationships, daily tasks. If those things shift dramatically, it may be time to say, “Maybe there’s something more going on here than just my usual stress.” If we see this in our children, spouses, or friends, how do we approach the conversation? We can’t drag them to help, but how do we open a dialogue that’s safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental? The first thing to note is that symptoms can look very different in kids. They may show more behavioral changes or physical complaints rather than verbalizing how they feel. Any major shift is worth noticing. When supporting someone you care about, people often worry that talking about it might make things worse—but you can’t give someone depression by asking how they’re doing. It’s about providing a safe space. You might say, “I just wanted to check in because I know it’s been hard for me.” You’re not diagnosing them—you’re just being there. Relationships are about knowing what’s going on, whether things are good or bad. Creating a safe space to talk can relieve a lot of pressure. Don’t overthink it or feel you have to fix it. Sometimes just listening is what people need most. Absolutely. Just knowing someone’s there makes all the difference because depression often leads to isolation. Speaking from my own experience, I dealt with depression two years ago, around the time my marriage was falling apart. I was on Zoloft, and not a lot of people knew it. Depression makes you feel like you’re in a hole, and anxiety can make you withdraw even more. That’s why it’s so important to have these conversations—to know you’re not alone and to be equipped to recognize the signs in others. Dr. Rika, can you talk a bit about all the online or virtual therapy happening now? It seems like there’s been an explosion of offerings to talk or listen or connect with therapists. Absolutely. My practice started during a time when everything was virtual, and it will likely continue that way. Telehealth has always been part of my vision. Even before COVID, I offered virtual sessions to my clients in Toronto when I traveled to California. The accessibility it offers is incredible. For example,