Dealing with COVID19 Anxiety

Hello everyone, welcome to the Said in Therapy Podcast. Have you ever considered going to therapy and you ended up not going? My question is why? In my humble opinion, I believe everyone can benefit from therapy. In fact, I believe everybody should go at least once in their life.

My name is Iman Tohami, and I'm a psychologist. This podcast tells you all about everyday cases with everyday people who have everyday problems and difficulties, and sometimes they carry around really deep wounds. These are their stories.

So, as you surely read, this episode is going to be about the coronavirus or the COVID-19 virus that is spreading all over the world at the moment and the fact that the WHO declared this a pandemic. I understand that this can cause a lot of anxiety, and the news is full of information and sometimes even misinformation about the topic.

So I invited my good friend Nora Matar, who is a pediatrician, to talk to me about the current events. We studied together and she traveled with Doctors Without Borders to India, worked in the Middle East, so she was exposed to many different settings worldwide.

And I hope that what we discuss can be informative to you. Here we go.

Here we go. Hi Noura, how are you?

Hi, thanks. I'm fine. Thanks for having me.

I'm so happy you decided to do this with me. Thank you so much. So I think my first question would be medical stuff is definitely in the middle of everything that's happening at the moment. How do you and your colleagues generally deal with panic and anxiety?

Well, that's a good question, and I think it's important. Of course, we are also just human beings who have fears and so on, but it is part of our job to stick to the facts and to the numbers and to the things which are capable of and what we can do.

I mean, beside what is happening right now with the epidemic, we as doctors, it is part of our job to be confronted with infectious patients. We deal with like different illnesses, viruses, bacteria.

And if you stick to the rules, if you stick to the facts, if you stick to science in general, to medical science, um, you can occupy your fears, of course, and you can just be able to deal with all of this.

So for example, I have worked in so different stations, I have worked with I with or I had to isolate patients, I have worked in India with tuberculosis patients. So we always have rules, we have plans, we have signs, and this is one of our most important sources to know what to do and when to do it.

So I think it's it's for everyone, especially in a time like this, important. Fear is not a good advisor. Try to learn what is important and try to stick to the facts.

So yeah, you said something very important, I think, because when you say stick to the facts, it usually means stick to the numbers, um, go to the right sources and find out what the epidemic is all about. Because at the very moment, I think people are just overwhelmed by the media and information provided by the media.

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Do you have any recommendations what we should be looking for when we inform ourselves?

I of course understand that um this might make people afraid of the situation which is going on. I mean, we are talking about the virus. Most people don't use this word at all, they don't have an imagination about what the virus is.

Uh, so it seems like an invisible danger. And therefore, it's so important to go back to science because medical stuff, um, researchers, we know what viruses are, we know how they work, we know how to protect ourselves from them.

So, this is how important it is to find the right sources. And of course, we are living in a world which is uh we have a globalized world, so we hear what's going on in China, in Italy, in every part of this world, we hear what government's doing everywhere.

We have so many different kinds of media, and everyone is just like so we we are overwhelmed with information by different sources. So it's always important to rethink where we get our information from. And it is important, especially in such a time where we might be overwhelmed with information and fear, to go back to what is important.

So, for example, it's WHO. I mean, this is the World Health Organization. They have experiences in different epidemics, um, like the swine flu, SARS, Ebola, epidemics uh in general, viruses, they are a source of so much experience and information with so many different experts.

So this is a highly recommended information site.

You're right, because what I noticed myself, even I fell victim to that, to be honest, when I was looking for um, when I was looking for news or information, I really read so many newspaper articles, and it almost felt like it's a little bit of fear mongering mentality where everybody was throwing around information and numbers.

And I think it's very important to keep in mind that um, yes, there are so many people who are infected, but also yes, there are so many people who have already recovered, and it is clear that we, and this is something that you can read everywhere.

80% of the cases are usually very mild. And I think this is something to keep in mind before we fall into the trap of just reading every live blog and thinking, oh my god, this is the end of the world.

Well, absolutely, this is so important because um look at different headlines. I mean, if you say like thousand people are infected, for example, in Germany, this creates fear. But what about the information that over 80% um have mild uh clinical symptoms?

So the headline would look completely different, and it's the same information, and that's how important it is to filter information and to get it to the right sources because the same sentence can be true, but the interpretation of it can be completely different.

Absolutely.

And I think um I mean we cannot underestimate this virus, obviously, otherwise governments wouldn't react the way they react. But at the same time, it is important to put everything into perspective and to understand the measures that are taken for a specific reason.

And in that case, it's of course, of course, it's a dangerous virus, but it also can be very mild. And for us, it is a responsibility to protect those who don't um or wouldn't react to the to the virus with mild symptoms.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean the situation is serious. Um, the virus is spreading worldwide, and that's why the WHO declared us at a pandemic, so that we can react to it in a most proper way. Um, but we have to understand and ask ourselves why is this happening, and that's very important to listen to the experts in this case.

So the situation is serious, but no need to panic. Um what is going on with the virus? It is spreading quite quickly, yes, but most of the cases are mild. Because someone who is um a young person and doesn't have any kind of illnesses, he has the ability or his body has the ability to fight the virus and even just have some mild infection symptoms, nothing else.

The problem is more for our vulnerable people, like elderly people or people, for example, with chronic illnesses or having low immune system. So it's a solidary responsibility to take care of each other and the most vulnerable one. And if we take the responsibility to listen to the experts and try to implement what they are advising us, we are protecting each other, and this is what we are capable of.

And sometimes it's also good if you have fear, then you need something to do and to implement, and there is a lot we can do, so it's not like we are not capable of um fighting this virus.

Yeah, you brought up something uh very interesting and important. So most people think that we are out of control, and in many ways, this is absolutely true because you cannot spot a virus and run away from it, but at the same time, there are ways to protect ourselves.

So, what what is it that we can do?

Oh, absolutely, and this is so important, and that is what we all can do, and actually, what we as medical staff are doing the whole time, even if the nosepellers are not talking about us. So, um, you heard it, I guess, already, but it's so important um hand washing.

Why? Because with soap and water, you don't even need this infection. With soap and water, you can wash most of the germs you have contact with every day. And in times like this, it is more important because we don't want the virus to spread continuously and reach the vulnerable people.

Um, I mean, if we have a normal infection and you sneeze in your hand and then you go and shake your hand with the next one, how high is the risk that he will get your infection? And this is what we see in wintertime all the time.

So, this is actually a rule we should implement every time. So wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Um, in cases like this, avoid handshaking, for example, exactly because this is how infectious are spread. And right now we're trying to avoid this.

Um, keep away from mass events. I mean, you realize maybe that uh a lot of countries are starting to cancel events, for example, it is because the more people you have in um in the same area, it is higher that the virus can spread in cases like this.

So avoid it as good as possible. Um, if you have to sneeze or to cough, which is completely normal because we are still in winter season, um, so we also have the normal infections, don't sneeze into your hand, try to sneeze in your elbows, cough in your elbows, so you avoid spreading the germs um on your hands.

So these are one of the most important rules.

Um, I wanted to ask you, what do you think about the WHO announcing the situation as a pandemic? Because when most of us um living today have never experienced something like that. And when we hear the word pandemic, it can cause a lot of fear and anxiety because it's something completely new to us and something we have never experienced.

What is your take on that?

The term pandemic means the worldwide spread of a new disease. And so the WHO reacted on this, what is happening right now. So, um, what we see is we have a new virus um, which started, as we know currently in China, and now we have cases which are infected worldwide.

And this is just the definition of a pandemic. And because it's spreading globally, and because of the things which I explained before, we have to protect our vulnerable, the vulnerable people. Um, we have every country has to work together with the other countries right now.

We cannot say, like a country in the Middle East, for example, will take care of it and it doesn't, and the rest of the world doesn't have to react. No, it's not like this. And this is what we are seeing right now.

So the WHO is our World Health Organization. It is the organization which has experience worldwide with different kinds of epidemics, um, which is a source of global information about viruses, about bacteria, um, about infectious diseases in general. So, what we have to know as a world, we have to work together.

The countries have to know what are the best advisors. And so you go to the source with the most information worldwide. And this is a WHO in this case, and you have to coordinate globally. I mean, you cannot close borders easily.

So, this is besides the scientific facts and the medical facts, it is also affecting politics, economy, and so on. So, we need someone globally to help to coordinate that.

So, do you generally agree with the measures taken so far?

Um, yes, absolutely. Um, I mean, look, uh we are different doctors with different um backgrounds, paediatricians, internal medicine, and whatsoever. And we are dealing now with um with potentially infectious patients. And also we depend on the people who are experts on um global health, on infectious diseases, on um experts in virology.

So, yes, I absolutely agree with the measures which are taken because they are coming from experts. And what is our main goal currently? We want to slow down the spread worldwide, and that's what we have to work on, and that's why we have to follow the advice which is given to us by the uh experts and the WHO.

Thank you so much, Noura. Um, this was very, very informative, and I think it's so important to keep all of these things in mind in order to also calm yourself down when you are in doubt or when you find yourself in the news cycle and it's it's creating all this anxiety and panic.

And to have the point of view of someone who is a professional in the field is so helpful, especially when the tips you share with us are so easily implemented in our daily routines. So, yes, thank you so much for participating.

Well, thank you very much. Um, thanks for having me, and thanks for giving me the opportunity. And yeah, it was beautiful to talk to you.

What I want you to take away from this episode is this. There is very little that we can control here. However, the little that we can control, control it. Also stick to the facts, get your information from the right places.

And also look at the numbers. It is of course tragic to see so many people dying and affected by this, but the majority is having mild symptoms. In order to protect those who need protection, stick to the rules implemented.

And if all of this fails and you still feel anxious and panicky, use this small exercise. Breathe in and breathe out for ten seconds approximately. And then acknowledge five things you can see. Then acknowledge four things that you can touch, for example, your arm, a pen, a table.

Then focus on three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell, and last but not least, acknowledge one thing that you can taste. That usually helps to calm acute anxiety.

Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the episode so far. If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can find me on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. The handle is always @saidintherapy.