Post by t-bob on Feb 9, 2021 22:40:08 GMT -5
Coronaphobia’: Covid anxiety has a name. Here’s how to cope.
We’re living in a time when every little cough, sniffle, olfactory or circulatory problem can elicit a knee-jerk bout of worry: Is this the beginning of covid-19? For some people, however, it’s more than a fleeting concern: Experts say and research shows that the pandemic has triggered a surge in health anxiety. In fact, health anxiety related to the coronavirus has been given its own name: coronaphobia.
“People are very concerned and anxious about getting covid,” says Lynn Bufka, a senior director at the American Psychological Association and a practicing licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland. “We should all have some kind of heightened vigilance about protecting ourselves, but for some people, [the anxiety] is out of proportion to the actual risk and generally disrupts life.”
Health anxiety is defined as worries and anxiety that relate to a perceived threat to your health. It exists on a continuum and can be a facet of several psychiatric illnesses, including hypochondriasis (now called illness anxiety disorder).
“Health anxiety relates to the belief that bodily sensations or changes are due to some disease process,” says Gordon Asmundson, a professor of psychology at the University of Regina in Canada and co-author with Steven Taylor of “It’s Not All in Your Head: How Worrying about Your Health Could Be Making You Sick — and What You Can Do About It.” During such viral outbreaks as the coronavirus, for example, people with high health anxiety may misinterpret post-exercise muscle aches or a bout of coughing as telltale signs that they’re infected, which in turn increases anxiety and can bring on stress-related symptoms
Excerpt
We’re living in a time when every little cough, sniffle, olfactory or circulatory problem can elicit a knee-jerk bout of worry: Is this the beginning of covid-19? For some people, however, it’s more than a fleeting concern: Experts say and research shows that the pandemic has triggered a surge in health anxiety. In fact, health anxiety related to the coronavirus has been given its own name: coronaphobia.
“People are very concerned and anxious about getting covid,” says Lynn Bufka, a senior director at the American Psychological Association and a practicing licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland. “We should all have some kind of heightened vigilance about protecting ourselves, but for some people, [the anxiety] is out of proportion to the actual risk and generally disrupts life.”
Health anxiety is defined as worries and anxiety that relate to a perceived threat to your health. It exists on a continuum and can be a facet of several psychiatric illnesses, including hypochondriasis (now called illness anxiety disorder).
“Health anxiety relates to the belief that bodily sensations or changes are due to some disease process,” says Gordon Asmundson, a professor of psychology at the University of Regina in Canada and co-author with Steven Taylor of “It’s Not All in Your Head: How Worrying about Your Health Could Be Making You Sick — and What You Can Do About It.” During such viral outbreaks as the coronavirus, for example, people with high health anxiety may misinterpret post-exercise muscle aches or a bout of coughing as telltale signs that they’re infected, which in turn increases anxiety and can bring on stress-related symptoms
Excerpt
