The following is excerpted from the CDC's article on Stress and Coping
Responding to COVID-19 can take an emotional toll on you, and you may experience secondary traumatic stress. Secondary traumatic stress is stress reactions and symptoms resulting from exposure to another individual’s traumatic experiences, rather than from exposure directly to a traumatic event.
There are things you can do to reduce secondary traumatic stress reactions:
Acknowledge that secondary traumatic stress can impact anyone helping families after a traumatic event.
Learn the symptoms including physical (fatigue, illness) and mental (fear, withdrawal, guilt).
Allow time for you and your family to recover from responding to the pandemic.
Create a menu of personal self-care activities that you enjoy, such as spending time with friends and family, exercising, or reading a book.
Take a break from media coverage of COVID-19.
Ask for help if you feel overwhelmed or concerned that COVID-19 is affecting your ability to care for your family and patients as you did before the outbreak.
Get more information about stress management for first responders from the Disaster Technical Assistance (SAMHSA).
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