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Experts say return to rainy season could cause mental health struggles during pandemic

Physical activity, outdoor recreation, and responsible socializing has been easier with summer weather. Being outdoors is also generally considered to be a safer environment than indoors, when it comes to coronavirus transmission.

But fall has now arrived and cooler, wetter weather will soon dominate. Nights will also become longer. Mental health professionals are now worried about what 'going back inside' during the pandemic means for all of us.

People who have used the outdoors as an escape will lose something, to an extent.

"The sense of people really not being able to do the things that have been helping us cope with the pandemic," said Dr. Robin Henderson, Chief of Behavioral Health for Providence Health & Services in Oregon.

Other experts are worried about two danger areas as the rainy season sets in.

"There are two big categories of dangers," said Dr. Alan Teo, associate professor of psychiatry at OHSU. "One is lack of physical activity and the second major danger is social isolation."

The key is to adapt as the weather turns gloomy while still following pandemic guidelines.

Experts say to keep exercising any way you can. Keep in touch with friends over the phone or video if you can't see them in person. Don't use alcohol as a way to cope.

Dr. Henderson also wants parents to pay close attention to kids.

"They're not doing the things they should normally and developmentally be doing," she said. "They're spending their days in rooms like I'm in right now talking on a Zoom call like we're doing right now. That drain combined then with the dark sky outside, the constant rain, that fact that I can't go outside and even do the things I was doing before, I'm really worried for our people. I'm really worried."

Dr. Teo warns people to stop using the phrase 'social distancing.' He wants people to keep being social any way they can.

"We can be social but distanced," he said.

Dr. Henderson also recommends light therapy which is used to treat seasonal affective disorder.