There’s a bit of Chicken Little in all of us.
You remember the storybook character from our childhood—the anxiety-ridden chick so obsessed with her fear that the sky was falling that all of her energy went into hopelessly spinning her wheels and engendering widespread panic among her barnyard friends.
No, the sky isn’t falling. But the novel Coronavirus has commandeered our national psyche and set our mental wheels spinning. Our everyday activities have been replaced by a whirlwind of frantic must-dos: Stock up on toilet paper, take our temperatures, worry about where we’ve been and who we’ve touched.
Media pundits and epidemiologists are bombarding us with numbers (infections per state, deaths per nation, hours the virus can live on any given surface) while government officials issue a nonstop stream of instructions. Wash our hands. Sit six feet apart. Call the doctor if you cough.
Everyone is concerned—and rightly so—about our physical health. But what about our mental health?
As president of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, I’m all too aware of how easily our emotions can become entangled with our physical well-being. Even before COVID 19 became a household phrase, we were a nation under stress. The American Psychological Association has chronicled our angst through its annual “Stress in America” report, pointing to our brutally divided political environment—as well as concerns about health care and climate change—as primary reasons. Stress has been gnawing away at our general well-being for years, disrupting our sleep patterns, sending our nervous systems into overdrive, and eroding our sense of optimism.
And that was before this insidious virus reared its ugly head, upending our world and robbing us of our way of life. Humans like structure and predictability; take that away from us and we can’t help but feel anxious and afraid.
There is ample evidence documenting the effect that anxiety can have on physical well-being, taking its toll on blood pressure, cardiac health and GI problems. We know that individuals who have both heart disease and an anxiety disorder are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those without a history of anxiety. And a full-blown panic attack triples a woman’s risk or a coronary event or stroke. It is this in-depth understanding of these interconnections that led The Chicago School to adopt the mantra, “No Health Without Mental Health.” We believe that you can’t attend to either in isolation.
As the pandemic continues, we must take care of our emotional health at the same time we take protective measures against the Coronavirus. It’s not necessarily going to be easy. Experts are recommending social distancing and self-isolation as ways to stem the community spread of the virus. But as humans, we need one another, and spending time with family and friends is often one of the most important things we can do to combat depression and anxiety.
So, what to do? I’d like to offer a few bits of advice.
It’s still important to keep up our contacts. Even if we have to rely on the telephone, email, texts and skype, we need to communicate with those we love. We need to know how they’re doing and let them know how we’re doing. While social media might be your gateway of choice for these communications, try to resist its lure when following national reaction to this illness, along with the plethora of fears, skepticism and finger-pointing that are flung about freely in public discussions.
The news is 24/7, but we don’t have to make it our 24/7. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the multiple layers of available information: the need for testing and equipment; the shortage of hospital beds; the demoralizing economic impact; the closure of schools, businesses and virtually all entertainment venues. Choose a one or two sources of information that you trust and check in for updates for a few minutes a day. Then leave it alone until tomorrow.
Focus on the short term: One day at a time. It’s an easily manageable block of time. But don’t give up on the long term. Even though we don’t know when this will be over, there will come a time when it is behind us.
Make a list of things that worry you, and zero in on those that you can control. You can make certain that you follow CDC guidelines and limit where you go and who you see. If your usual activities—school or work—have changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic, plan your day. Decide what to eat, what to read, and what to accomplish. Make sure that you do something every day that brings you joy: Talking with a close friend, watching a favorite TV show, taking a walk in the fresh air.
If you’re a parent, think through what your kids need to feel settled in their new reality. They are stressed too, even if they deny it, and it’s up to you to set a tone of calm and consistency, and to create a reassuring structure for everyone to follow. Choose your battles; this may not be the time to argue about video games or screen time.
And, finally, cut yourself some slack. These are unprecedented times—circumstances for which none of us was prepared. It’s natural to feel some anxiety, but the trick is to prevent it from taking over. Focus on taking care of yourself, and your family. And don’t be afraid to reach out for help if you need it.
Chicken Little never did take the time to realize the sky wasn’t really falling. Don’t let yourself fall into the same trap.
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