After analyzing nearly 500 studies addressing the alarm and panic people were experiencing during the pandemic, researchers created the term "coronaphobia" and defined it as "an excessive response triggered by the fear of contracting the virus that causes Covid-19, leading to anxiety excessive associated with physiological symptoms, personal loss, increased security and safety-seeking behaviors, and avoidance of public places and situations, causing obvious impairment in the functioning of daily life. ”
The researchers listed several factors that could lead to coronaphobia. These include thoughts about all the uncertainties that come with the pandemic (such as whether you will be infected with Covid-19, or whether your salary is at risk), adjusting to new practices, or anxiety when many people say they are infected with a virus. .
Una McCann, MD, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and director of the Anxiety Disorders Program, told Health that "anxiety is a normal, healthy reaction to dangerous things." And, she explained, it is a response that anyone can develop during periods of stress.
Coronaphobia or anxiety: How to understand change
Lily Brown, director of the Center for Anxiety Treatment and Study at the University of Pennsylvania, told Health that many people wonder if their anxiety level for Covid-19 is normal or if they are very concerned about the virus. To help them understand, she tells patients to use their pandemic behavior as a marker.
"Basically, are you able to do the things you need to do to make a relatively fulfilling life? Are you able to connect with people? Are you able to get your food for the week? Are you able to fulfill it? Jobs if you have been able to keep the job? Often, what happens when people have anxiety disorders is that their anxiety starts to spread so that it becomes more and more challenging to follow up on their obligations and fulfill them. of their needs, "says Brown.
If you start to notice that you find it difficult to fulfill your commitments or perform the necessary tasks because you are panicking that you will not be infected with Covid (or worry that your loved ones will get sick), these may be indications that you have coronaphobia.
