- In recent months, we have learned to wear masks to social distance and to wash our hands a lot.

And we have scrambled to cope with significant economic strain.

With these dual uncertainties, a pandemic that threatens our physical health and the decline in oil prices that threatens our economic health.

We must now also learn to consider our mental health.

Mass traumatic events, induce mental distress.

Think about it.

The events of September 11th, 2001 brought a surge in reports of symptoms, consistent with depression.

Similarly populations affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes floods and fires report increases in depression.

Last month, a study published by The Journal of the American Medical Association found depression symptoms were more than three-fold higher during the pandemic than before, significantly higher than recorded after previous mass traumatic events.

But what about here in West Texas?

Although we are bootstrappy and tough, we have been hit hard in 2020.

So this evening we ask, Are West Texans depressed?

I'm Becky Ferguson.

And this is "One Question" (dramatic music) Our first guest this evening is Kristi Edwards.

She's the executive director of Centers for Families & Children in Midland in Odessa Before we dig into our topic, would you tell us a little bit about what Centers does?

- I will, Centers has been around since 1957.

We've, you know we primarily can provide counseling for anyone ages three and up, we also provide parenting education.

We provide post-adoption services for anyone who adopts a child out of the state of Texas care.

- Well, you have lots of counselors and you yourself are a counselor.

Can you talk about some of the calls that you all have been getting since the pandemic began?

And some of the concerns that folks are expressing to you and your counselors?

- Oh yes.

I mean the, when we were closed for, you know, we weren't closed, officially closed, but our therapists were working from home.

The calls kind of tapered off, but after a couple of months, the phone started ringing again, people were at home, they're feeling isolated, you know, they're afraid the stock market has gone down.

Oil process have gone down.

Some people were losing jobs and everybody became very aware of their mental health and the needs that they have.

So calls started again, we provided tele-health early on.

We are back in the office now.

- And talk about tele-health in case folks don't know what tele-health is.

- So what tele-health is, it's a online platform.

So you can connect, it's almost like Zoom.

- Okay.

- We in the therapy world, we use doxy.me because it is, you know, HIPAA compliant.

So what you do is you just connect and you have video chat.

So, and some of our clients that do not have that capability we are able just to provide phone sessions.

- We certainly know the circumstances that have brought us here, the pandemic and the decline in oil prices.

Those were the externals.

But what are the emotions that, these circumstances are bringing about in people?

- I think primarily it's, you know, people are recognizing, you know, a sense of isolation, fear of the unknown, loss of control.

So that brings anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms.

And some of those are, you know, like we're having trouble sleeping.

Our appetite is off.

We're having a harder time concentrating, you know, maybe my attitude, my outlook on life has taken a little bit of a nosedive and I need some help and coping skills and bringing that back up.

- Is there a way, you've just given us some of the symptoms, is there a way that folks could from their homes sort of self-diagnose.

- Sure.

I mean, I think anytime that you're off your game, or you're not enjoying the things that you normally enjoy, that is a sign, you know, so your everyday living and everyday life, if you are kind of shying away from that or, you know, refusing to participate in that, that is one thing.

There's also... you can download this online.

It's called the Beck Depression Inventory.

It's B-E-C-K and the Beck Anxiety Inventory.

It's kind of the gold standard for, you know, you can self-diagnose, there are 21 items that you, you know, you go in, you figure, you know, on a scale of one to four, you add up the score at the end.

So it's, you know, mild, moderate, and severe.

We would recommend that even if you're in the upper end of moderate, that you go ahead and give somebody a call.

A therapist.

Yeah.

If you're in the severe area, we're probably gonna see you first and then we'll make a decision together whether you need to have meds.

- The other day we were visiting and you were talking about a client who was particularly lonely.

- Yes.

- And so talk to us about the kinds of things that you would tell a person who came in that was very lonely, very isolated.

- So in this particular instance, it's a 30 year old male who was already somewhat isolated because he's not a big, you know, he doesn't go out.

He doesn't party, you know, in Midland it's in Odessa, it's kinda hard to meet someone unless you meet them at church or, you know, in the grocery aisle at Albertsons or whatever.

So he was already feeling some of that, pandemic came and shut down his work.

And so he was working from home and he was literally going weeks without seeing anyone.

So, you know, his depression turned even darker because it's like, "Is it going to be like this forever?"

I'm having no contact.

I don't think I can do this much longer.

So, you know, our very real fear for those people was, you know, if you're already depressed and you slide deeper into that, it's to get you back out.

And sometimes that will lead to some suicidal thinking.

- And so what were some of the tips that you gave him?

- So, you know, what we did is we're gonna up our meetings.

We're gonna see him more often.

He got in contact with his primary care physician who also upped his antidepressant.

And we talked to him about joining some online Zoom groups.

Okay.

So whatever you're interested in, he happens to be very interested in like video games and things like that.

So he has actually reached out and made some connections.

So this, I think that that will get him through, he will be going back into the office where he does have a solid support system in the next couple of weeks.

- Because we've had so many losses because we have maybe loss of being able to be with family, at loss of being able to be with our faith community, to be at school, to be at a job.

So I think grief would be sort of a component of this as well as isolation.

- Oh, there's very much grief.

You know, you grieve anything that changes that you drew strength from.

- The other day you were talking to me about a grandmother that came to you all and what brought her to you?

- Well and hers is very much would fall under the headline of grief.

It was, you know, she can't see her grandchildren.

And so she said, everything I see on TV is making me cry.

It's not just the Hallmark movies.

It's not, you know, men returning from the military and seeing their families.

She said, it's literally everything that I see.

So for her, it was, you know, anything that had any tug of emotion whatsoever.

Hers came out in tears.

You know, and so what we convinced her to do was to FaceTime with her family.

We had her start journaling and once again, we had her, you know, join us through tele-health more often.

- So I liked that you recommended something specific, the Beck Inventory and we'll put some information about that on our website.

Kristi, thank you so much for coming and talking to us about this today.

I really appreciate it.

- You're very welcome.

- Up next.

A thorough look at local mental health resources, but first a review of the symptoms of depression.

(dramatic music) Dr. Elaine Bedell is the executive director of Healthy Minds.

We're so happy to have you here today.

Let's start off with you telling us a little bit about what Healthy Minds is and how it came to be.

- Oh, absolutely.

So Healthy Minds has actually been a community collaborative from the word go.

We had several different community members.

Russel Myers was a really large- - Of the hospital - Yes, of the hospital.

Yes.

A really large proponent early on.

Also Ramona Thomas who's at PermiaCare.

And some other leaders in our community such as Terry Wilkinson, really got behind the movement as far as what else can we do for behavioral health and raise awareness for it.

And let people know that they can get the care that they need.

So about 2016, they had Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute out of Dallas come in, and really do a comprehensive overview, a community assessment to really figure out what gaps do we have, what services do we already have and how would we best collaborate together to utilize all of those resources in a more effective way.

It just really leveraged them.

And what they came up with is that we actually have a huge number of resources here in Midland.

And we're very fortunate for that, but we didn't have a way to kind of bring them all together.

And so that's when they really recommended to have an organization that would be a community collaborative orchestrator basically.

And that's how Healthy Minds came to be to come together and bring people to focus and really figure out who's doing what and how we can use our resources together.

- Before we talk about, some of the resources that are available, explain to me the term behavioral health.

- Yes ma'am.

So within any industry you start having, what do we call different things.

And of course mental health is something that resonates with a lot of people.

And that is used interchangeably a lot with behavioral health.

However, behavioral health is a more encompassing umbrella term that has mental health and substance abuse within it.

And so if somebody is talking specifically about behavioral health like we do at Healthy Minds, we are also including the substance abuse within the mental health discussion.

- I would guess sometimes they overlap.

- Yes.

Ma'am, there's actually about a 40% co-occurrence rate with the two.

So you never really know which one maybe happened first, but yeah, there definitely is the co-occurrence.

- I've heard you talk about how we should all check up on our mental health much like we would have our teeth cleaned periodically and our oil changed periodically.

So talk a little bit about what that looks like.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So, so many people, like you say, we take our physical health, we think, Oh, why not go to the doctor and have your annual check-up and have your teeth cleaned.

But we don't think about that as far as a mental health perspective that you need to do just small things.

For instance, you brush your teeth every day.

So why don't you take a moment and be mindful of how you're feeling kind of check in with yourself?

Are you anxious?

Are you nervous?

Are you stressed?

And in those moments, we can do self regulation each day by just checking in saying, you know, "I'm really stressed about that, but there's nothing I can do about that."

And it's okay.

- What are relief, - Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Because then you can let that go and you will feel a difference within yourself knowing what you can and can't control.

So being able to check in like that just on a daily basis, and sometimes if you're going through something stressful more than once a day, but then also thinking about going to see some kind of either peer support, peer specialists, counselors, you don't have to always go to a psychiatrist.

There's multiple different levels along the way.

- And that's what I want you to talk about is, a minute ago, you mentioned that we have so many resources available.

Can you elaborate on that?

- Sure, so of course in limited time, that's what I always get stumped on.

It's like, how do you talk about all of them?

Because they're all fantastic.

So on the Healthy Minds website, we actually have a listing for our local resources and also online ones to definitely highlight would be BasinMD.

It's a new service to expand the number of professionals that we have within our community.

And it's a tele-health at based service to be able to speak with any kind of either counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist from the comfort of your own home, any time of day, that was a new one that's come out this year.

But of course, we also have, those of there own for a long period of time, PermiaCare centers, Samaritan, Agape, they're also fantastic.

- How would you go about connecting with BasinMD?

- I'm glad you asked, that's a very easy click of the button with our website.

So if you go to midlandbhi.org, you'll find a link right there with, BasinMD to go to that site, download on your app or on your... download the app on your phone or iPad, or even go in through your desktop computer, make a, like, as call it the clinical clipboard.

You know, you always get when you go to the doctor's office and let your medical history make your little profile.

And then right then and there you have access to not only physical health, which is an urgent care model that they have, but also behavioral health and psychiatry.

And so we have an integrated health care right there at your finger tips.

- And so you would fill out what it is you wanted and would you be immediately connected or would you make an appointment?

- You can make an appointment that's convenient for you from what's listed there available.

- And would you be speaking with someone that's in the Basin or somebody that is in Alaska.

- Either or, we're working on that right now, we're getting our local providers all loaded into BasinMD right now, so that if you have a provider that you really wanna keep and maintain, but you, for whatever reason, maybe COVID, that you wanna to keep social distance and wanna do it with a tele-platform you can, or if you really like to speak to somebody outside to get a different perspective, that's available as well.

- I really think y'all have a marvelous website and I will put it up on the screen so that people can visit it because it's just full of resources.

Elaine, thank you so much for coming and helping us today.

We were really happy to see you.

Up next, coping skills.

Tools for taking care of our mental health in these times of stress.

But first a look at local resources.

(dramatic music) Welcome Dr. Stephanie Moses.

She is a licensed psychologist, an author, and a faculty member of a local university.

Thank you so much for coming.

- Thank you for having me.

- We have talked earlier in the show about sort of this dual whammy, where we have been hit by a plunge in oil prices, and then also the pandemic.

Could you talk to us a little bit about coping skills?

- Yes, so I think when we hear the term coping skills, we definitely think of action verbs running, you know, some type of exercise, healthy eating, yoga, and all of those are wonderful coping skills, but coping can be so much more than just doing things like that because let's face it.

A lot of us don't have an active and workout routine that we do every day.

So I think the first thing that's extremely important with coping is first of all, identifying your feeling and giving yourself permission to feel bad, you know, I often say it's okay to not be okay, you know, and so understanding what you're feeling and what's triggering the feeling to me is the most important part of coping.

So that way, when you are doing the things that are a little more active, you're more mindful of what emotion you're working through.

- You have mentioned to me on a number of occasions, how important it is to be in the here and now.

And I would think that that is particularly important.

Now, can you talk a little bit about how do we stay here instead of going way there or way back there.

- Right.

I think that's one of those things that tends to be a little easier said than done.

And so what that means is it really means focusing on what is going on for you at present.

A lot of times, our stress and anxiety is a product of thinking too far forward or thinking too far backward.

So staying in the here and now means being absolutely present, whether you're doing homework or working on a task for work, or even engaging with your children, having a conversation, being mindful of what the topic really is, what are they really saying to you?

What is really going on the task at work?

What is happening on the TV show or the book that you read?

So it's actively being present in that moment and ensuring that you really are aware of what's going on around you and not on what we call autopilot.

- You have used the word catastrophizing, if that's the way you say it, talk a little bit about that and obviously why we should avoid it.

- Yes, so catastrophizing is actually a defensive mechanism that we use.

It's not an effective one, but we all tend to use it at some point.

What that means is, it's a style of thinking where you're facing a difficult situation, or maybe you're feeling a difficult or negative emotion.

And all of a sudden the thoughts become, it's all good or, I mean, I'm sorry.

It's all bad.

So the world is coming to end, I knew I wasn't good enough to get the job.

I'm not smart enough to pursue this career because I fell at this exam.

So when we go to the negative, the extreme negative is catastrophizing.

That tends to be very dangerous because it can increase our anxiety, depression, our self-worth, and it makes it extremely difficult to employ those, the coping strategies that we were just talking about.

- So how do you pull back from that?

- I think the first thing is having to be aware that I'm doing it again.

Here I go.

Some of us it's so automatic, we don't even know when we're doing it.

So it's important to be mindful of your thoughts, thinking about thinking is very important in how you think.

So when you are aware of that, and typically I tell people that when you notice a change in your mood, that shift, we all feel that because we feel it physically.

So when you notice that physical shift and you can relate it to a mood that might be the signal, how am I thinking?

What am I thinking?

When you notice that that's where you're going?

I think it's important to stop that thought, that's the technique we use all the time called thought stopping, say nope, I'm not thinking about that right now.

That's not what that means.

Or I can't control that and go back to being very present.

- If I were to, or if you were going to suggest a plan of action, there are a lot of people that are used to getting things accomplished.

And so the way they go about coping is a plan of action.

So if I was going to design one for coping with sad feelings or coping with a lack of control, how would we go about that?

Or can you give some specific examples?

- Well, I'll give a plan of action that I use all the time.

But first is just to stop and breathe, right?

Breathing is so essential.

It's what we forget to do.

Right, whenever we're stressed, we tense up and we forget to do that.

So intentional breathing is extremely important.

Identify that feeling and what's triggering the feeling.

And then it's often extremely important to reflect on is that enough to change my mood or to make my mood bad in this particular moment, typically whatever the trigger is, majority of time is not enough to change it for a significant amount of time, few minutes, maybe even an hour, depending on how big it is.

Some things are big enough triggers for a couple of days, but the majority of the things that we're encountering regularly in the day that is going on presently is not enough.

But remember you gotta also too, remember that stress and anxiety is a product of thinking too far forward or thinking too far backwards often.

- Do you find that social media is a trigger for anxiety and depression.

- Oh my goodness that hit the hotspots, so that is one of my pet peeves.

- Don't get you started.

- Don't bet me started.

So social media I think in its original intention was really a great idea, right?

But like so many things that falls from what was originally intended.

So social media was intended to connect.

Unfortunately, what it's become now is our, standard of what our life should look like.

And I don't like should.

I think, you know, I don't like that word should.

So we ended up comparing ourselves to other people.

When in reality we're comparing to a facade, because people put their best foot forward typically on social media, we're looking at pictures, we're looking at announcements of babies.

We're looking at announcements of new jobs and it just breeds us to compare ourselves.

And if we're not in a place where we're achieving what we want to be or we're content, it's gonna make us compare ourselves negatively.

So it can have really an adverse effect.

And I think what its true intention really was.

Sometimes we got to unplug and get off of it.

- So maybe go on a social media and a news diet.

- A purge, a complete purge.

I'm a big proponent of purging from being fed too much information.

All of these things are done to be emotionally charged, to grapple and grip with the tension and controversial issues it makes them effective.

But if you're not in a space where you can effectively handle that and deflect information that's not helpful.

It might just be a good idea to purge.

- To just purge.

Thank you so much, Stephanie.

These are some wonderful tips.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and your time with us with some tips for improving our mental health.

And thank you also for reminding us that we are by nature, resilient.

- Absolutely.

- Up next, some food for the soul, a closer look at the painting behind us.

After another look at coping skills.

(dramatic music) This painting over my shoulder is a work by abstract expressionists, John Little, 1907 to 1984, his forms and colors pack a big punch and they're characterized by thick paint and lots of color.

Little maintained a close friendship with Jackson Pollock.

In fact, the two had a joint exhibition in 1955.

Little's work is in the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York.

But you can see a large inventory of his work here in Midland at Baker Shorr Fine Art.

Going forward each week, we will feature a work of fine art from local galleries and museums.

Here's a look at what's coming up on Basin PBS this week, Latino vote dispatches voices from the underground.

It has a fair amount of Texas content.

That's Tuesday, October the 6th at 8:00 PM.

The "MISD School Board Live Debate" is Thursday, October the 8th at 7:00 PM.

And the "Last Tango in Halifax" the series finale on Sunday, October the 11th at 7:00 PM.

And last but not least, looking ahead a week from today, the US House of Representatives, "Texas 11th Congressional District Live Debate" is Monday, October the 12th at 7:00 PM.

And finally thank you for watching our first episode of "One Question."

We'll be back each Monday at 5 immediately after Basin Live at 4:30.

With answers to the questions you want to know from the people who know.

If you have a question, send it to us at onequestion@basinpbs.org.

Next week, we will ask and answer the question, "Why go downtown?"

We'll look at the recent multi-million dollar investments in downtown Midland and Odessa and what they have to offer you.

We had the opportunity to sit down with local businessman, Wes Perry, Odessa hotel owners, Sondra and Toby Eoff, and the executive director of Centennial Park, Stephanie Martin.

Here's a sneak peek of what's coming up next week.

I'm Becky Ferguson.

Goodnight.

(dramatic music)