Post-pandemic cognitive therapy: How to bounce back from corona

Thanks to the very successful vaccination program, the unemployment rate has dropped below 10% and is expected to fall to 7.5% by the end of the year. Many unemployed persons have been receiving government financial aid, which will be discontinued in June. Consequently, those people who are unemployed are under a great deal of pressure to seek employment. However, for many of these job seekers, their former careers and businesses may no longer be a realistic option. 

Currently, several of my clients are struggling with this very problem and suffering from serious anxiety and worry about their future. For these clients and many like them, not only is there fear about the future and making a living, but there is also an issue of how they perceive their ability to cope with the situation. 

It was psychologist Aaron Beck in the 1960s who first wrote that an individual’s affect and behavior are largely determined by the way he structures the world. For example, if a person is a perfectionist, then unless he does everything perfectly, he will believe he is a failure. Beck went on to develop an original theory of cognitive therapy based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together. Specifically, cognitive therapy postulates that our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior. If you think about this for a moment, someone unemployed can easily believe that his/her ability to make a living will never bounce back. 

Subsequently this individual gets depressed and has no motivation to do anything. 

JUDY, A single woman in her early 50s, has been employed for the past 20 years as a business travel agent, working for a specialized travel agency that caters to making airline and other travel plans for company employees. Since few people are flying and many companies have adjusted to employees having conferences and business meetings using online platforms like Zoom, the future of business travel is uncertain. Judy is doubtful that her industry will return to its pre-pandemic level, and she is almost certain that she will be without an income after June. Judy was worried and frightened. She saw herself as an unemployable person, given that the industry she had known for many years was not open to her. 

In addition, as a result of the lockdowns, Judy spent many months alone in her apartment. Her future seemed bleak. I recall Judy saying to me, “At my age, who is going to want to hire me and the market will be mobbed with competition even if there are some jobs in my industry.” Judy’s negative thinking is exactly what Beck cognitive model describes and Judy sank into depression and anxiety about her future. 

In therapy, Judy was encouraged to stop feeling sorry for herself. I helped her to realize that not believing in her own worth and seeing only gloom would only make her feel more depressed and worried. After all, helplessness and feeling like a victim would not get her anywhere. 

As a result, she decided to take a part-time volunteer job at a social agency that gave free meals to homeless and poor people. This was a game changer. She saw firsthand that there were people in much worse situations than she was, and that she could be active rather than staying home and feeling sorry for herself. Judy’s view of herself and situation changed quickly i.e. “I am not as bad off as I thought,” “I am useful and not helpless,” “I enjoy helping people and realize I have good people skills.” 

Judy was encouraged to think out of the box. I helped her to look at herself not just as a business travel agent but as a mature intelligent woman who possessed many skills. Judy realized that her career was much more than the specific title called Business Travel Agent i.e. booking flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. 

Judy said, “You need to multitask, be able to work well under pressure, have a high level of customer service and pay careful attention to detail. You need to be able to communicate well with clients and suppliers, be a strong team player but also be able to work independently. As a manager, I trained a team of staff and motivated them. These are all adaptable skills.” 

What Judy was doing in therapy was changing her view of herself and her view of her future by doing a self-assessment of her skills that could be used in many other job roles other than the one she saw little chance of returning to. 

In addition, Judy took her situation one step further and was encouraged to enroll in an online course to learn sales skills. After completion of the course, Judy’s confidence began to grow rapidly. Today she is confident that she will find a good job and has given herself the time and devotion to search. Some of the responses she received are indeed very promising. 

What can we learn from Judy’s story? Never give up – and realize that your inner thoughts and beliefs about your situation and yourself play a powerful part in influencing your moods and behavior. These principles lie at the core of cognitive therapy. While it is painful to see people lose their jobs or businesses, I always believe that there is opportunity in every crisis. Cognitive therapy in Judy’s case really helped her to find these opportunities.