It feels like there’s no escape from the gloom and doom of living through the coronavirus pandemic.

At home we feel cooped up and locked down. Outside we see face masks, closed restaurants, and worried faces. Online we doomscroll through endless updates of deaths, economy crashes, and fear.

The briefest bit of good news – whether it’s the development of a Covid-19 vaccine or Joe Biden winning the election – is oh so needed.

While it’s tempting to quickly go into nitpick mode and raise questions, concerns, and criticisms, just pausing and allowing ourselves to be hopeful could do wonders for our mental wellbeing.

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Dr Houda Ounnas, a Harley Street GP, tells us: ‘Hope and positivity are very important for our mental health.

‘Not only do they play a role in raising morale, but can also prevent certain mental illnesses, notably depression, from developing.’

It’s tricky to stay hopeful when you’re prone to anxiety.

Hope is essentially optimism for the future, while anxiety provokes you to think of the worst possible outcomes.

What if the vaccine doesn’t work? What if there are side effects? What if people refuse to take the vaccine and there’s general unrest?

It’s a difficult habit to break, but try, just for now, to quiet those ‘what ifs’ and give yourself permission to get excited about some positive news. Take it at face value and understand that you’re not being ‘silly’ or ‘naive’ to feel hopeful about what’s next – hope and positivity is an important tool in our arsenal against low mood.

And at a time when there’s so much stress and misery, now is when we need that glimmer of hope the most.

‘Human beings are social animals, and as much as this prolonged quarantine period is for our safety, we cannot disregard the fact that most of our higher psychological needs have largely not been met over the past months, impacting our resources and ability to cope with day to day triggers,’ says Dr Martina Paglia, a psychologist at Expat Therapy 4U.

‘The recent positive news of Covid vaccine breakthroughs, in addition to Trump’s defeat in the US, have brought some hope into the picture – fuelling the stock markets to surge all over the world.

‘From a psychology point of view, hope can be regarded as a protective factor against negative thinking, which often leads to harmful behaviours.

‘For example, while assessing motivation for improving one’s mental health, feeling hopeful is one of the positive predictor of therapy success.

‘In contrast, feeling hopeless can be seen as a risk factor to our mental health, and may increase the likelihood that a mental health issue will develop, taking us down the path of self-deprecatory thinking and, in chronic circumstances, lead to suicidal ideation.

‘Bringing hope to our lives with some certainty that a vaccine will be available soon – at least for frontline NHS staff and the most vulnerable to severe Covid patients – has had a positive impact on our overall mood, because it leads to positive thinking that these restrictions will be lifted in the new year and we will be able to gradually return to our normal lives.’

Dr Ounnas points out that consciously deciding to be hopeful and optimistic gives us a sense of control, which is key when we’re dealing with threats that are entirely out of our hands.

That light at the end of the tunnel can also help to lessen the strain of the current moment.

In the case of the vaccine, for example, the idea that we could soon return to normal makes the lockdown and all the restrictions on our everyday lives feel ‘worth it’ – and thus makes the experience less unpleasant.

Perhaps that hope alone might make people stick to lockdown measures more strictly, as there’s now a sort of ‘reward’ to come.

‘When we see a direct connection between the future we want and our behaviours and attitudes today, effort and commitment soar,’ says Dr Ounnas. ‘It gives us a sense of control over our lives and reduces the doubt or guilt that we might just be wasting time and effort. Working towards and eventually achieving a goal also gives us a feeling of worth.

‘News of emerging Covid vaccines has projected the now-valid hope that not only are we soon to potentially eradicate this virus, but also that life can return to normal at some point next year. Businesses will grow and be created again, the economy will eventually begin to recover and we can once again meet up with family and friends. These are all positive images to look forward to, particularly with the festive season approaching.

‘Above all, the new vaccine means reassurance that our loved ones and our society’s most vulnerable members, will be protected. We will once again begin to enjoy social life and economic prosperity without the guilt of endangering the most vulnerable amongst us.’

The message to take from this is simple: good news is a good thing, and not to be sniffed at.

Try to slow the journey from good news to poking holes and thinking about all the things that could go wrong.

Positivity and hope are powerful, and we need them more than ever to get back on the road to mental wellbeing.

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