27 Mar 2020
Co-authored by Dr. John Barrett, Psy.D. and Dr. Why
I got God on my side
And I'm just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear's a powerful thing, baby
It can turn your heart black you can trust
It'll take your God filled soul
And fill it with devils and dust
Bruce Springsteen “Devils & Dust” (2005)
Q: What Fear and Anxiety have to do with the coronavirus pandemic?
A: First of all, let’s talk about fear. Fear (and its close brother anxiety) is a signal emotion. Think of the dashboard of your car. Fear is a warning light. It tells you that there’s danger somewhere. So, it’s a good thing. We want those lights working.
The problem though with fear is that we treat it like the engine, or the driver of the car and it takes a life of its own. If we let it have that much power, it will become our dictator. Fear and Anxiety will fuel our imagination, block rational thinking in a hope to survive. It will primarily motivate us to fight, flight, or freeze.
With regards to the coronavirus pandemic, if given too much power fear will motivate us to do extreme things, such as hoard. If we ignore the warning completely, we risk helping it spread. So, we end up either in a state of inaction or overreaction.
Remember the saying: ”keep fear on a short leash.” I think that is the key during these difficult times. We need to go on with life without panicking while not denying realities.
Q: What are the three dangerous ways to handle fear?
A: Denial, panic, and escape. Denial exposes one to more danger. Panic makes one irrational. Successful escape makes one happy, but still terrified by the enemy.
Q: Why keeping our routines makes us to feel safer?
A: Our routines are important. They give our lives a sense of structure and reliability which is more important to some people than others.
Albert Camus in his novel The Plague describes the city as a place where “you need a routine to survive.“ When one’s “routine” is thrown off, it makes one feel out of control. Hoarding and other behaviors are the ways of feeling in control.
Q: What about toilet paper?
A: This is a great question. It’s a good chance to consult the father of psychoanalysis himself, Sigmund Freud. Freud could be considered the most influential person of the 20th century, but he’s fallen out of fashion over the past 50 years. However, he may have something to contribute on this issue.
He believed we go through stages of psychosexual development. The anal stage is the second stage, lasting from age 18 months to three years. Freud believed people could become fixated at certain stage, and also regress to a stage during times of stress. Therefore, during this stressful time, hoarding toilet paper could be explained as a regression to the anal stage. It’s a stage where we first have a sense of control. If it goes well, it’s also a time of love and bonding with one’s mother (traditionally speaking), and possibly even fun. Being potty trained makes one feel in control.
Q: Why are we so vulnerable during epidemics?
A: I think you mean psychologically vulnerable. Well, there are mental pitfalls with fear, and if we don’t keep them in check we will be in trouble. Here’s a few: fortunetelling, catastrophizing, thinking the voice of fear is fact, letting fear call the shots versus ego functioning (Freud). It’s also difficult to get accurate information during epidemics. There is a flood of information but how one can make sense it?Education and knowledge can help us stay grounded and make good choices.
Q: Why fear and anxiety spread faster than disease?
A: Harry Stack Sullivan said that anxiety is contagious. We are herd animals after all. We run if everyone, or majority runs. If we do not run with a crowd, we can die in a stampede, we can be run over. Therefore:
Be aware of who you’re listening to;
Limit watching news. Avoid negative news. Look into the future;
Isolation is psychologically dangerous. Practice PHYSICAL distancing, not SOCIAL distancing;
Try to connect with friends and family via phone, SMS, video call, social network, of just write a postcard, or a letter;
Passivity will increase anxiety;
Assertiveness and positive action will lessen it.