How can I help others during coronavirus / COVID-19?

Look after one's own mental health is helpful to all humans during COVID-19

Question: How can I help others during coronavirus / COVID-19?
Position‹5 of 5: Look after yourself
Argument‹2 of 2: Look after one's own mental health is helpful to all humans during COVID-19

Living mostly in self-isolation can severely damage people's mental health. One should ensure they are looking after themself not only physically, but mentally. This can also help others to focus on further helping activities if individuals can take care of themselves.

The argument

Spending time in isolation can have a significant effect on one's mental health. Some of the mental health risks associated with loneliness and isolation may include depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, suicide, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. While conditions of lockdown and isolation obviously represent a huge disruption to daily life, there are things you can do to ensure you stay as mentally healthy as possible; check out our maps on way to do so here. Additionally, reaching out to loved ones, friends, and those in need takes many forms today. With multiple platforms to choose from, people can connect via: mail, phone, text, email, social media, and video chat platforms, etc. Also, there are some signs and symptoms for determining people's mental conditions. These signs and symptoms may include feelings of depression and anxiety, aggressive behavior, passive attitude, poor sleep quality, cognitive decline, altered memory, poor self-care or self-neglect, etc. We should take care of ourselves and pay more attention to mental health.

Premises

[P1]Isolation during the pandemic significantly harms mental health, risking depression, anxiety, and worse. [P2] People can protect their mental health by staying connected through phone, text, social media, and video, and by watching for warning signs. [P3] Caring for one's own mental health keeps a person well enough to support others. [C] Therefore, looking after yourself — your own mental health — is a way to help others during COVID-19.

Counter-arguments

If one notices that someone is struggling, they should help. Now that many have been around members in theiir household for an extended time, one may just sense something is different. New routines. Lack of energy. Changes in behavior. Therefore, it is important to not only take care of oneself but also other people who need help. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, about 1 in 5 Americans were affected by anxiety. Depression was the leading cause of disability. But now more than ever, there’s a heightened sense of awareness of the mental health concerns many may face due to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. From here, people can see that there is a great need for help in tackling the mental health concerns of all people.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise lists conditions of very different kinds — depression and anxiety alongside schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease — as risks of loneliness, which overstates what some months of isolation can be said to cause. [Rejecting P3] Self-care is a precondition for helping rather than a form of it, and the question asks how to help others; on the counter's account the need is large enough that noticing and assisting the people around you is the step the premise skips.