Barts Health Psychologist, Vicky Kelly, on Coronavirus anxiety | #TeamBartsHealth blogs

If you are experiencing anxiety and worries in relation to coronavirus, you are having a very normal reaction. Our current context is uncertain and life as we know it is changing rapidly. We have to adapt quickly to changes in our lifestyle, working patterns, and how we care for our children and elderly relatives.  All of these changes are happening in ways we have little control over. These are also universal changes which affect everyone, so it is hard to escape them and have some respite. It is all around us.  All of these factors are very natural triggers for anxiety. 

What does anxiety look like?

Anxiety shows up in our thinking, our behaviour, our bodily responses and our emotional responses. All of these areas reinforce each other and create a vicious cycle and this keeps our anxiety going. For example, if we think “will I get ill?” it makes us feel worried which creates a physical response in our bodies, e.g. breathlessness which might then reinforce a thought about becoming ill. 

Our anxiety behaviours also affect others around us and our colleagues and family members can pick up on our behaviour being different.

Focusing on anxious thoughts is unhelpful

While anxiety is a very normal response and evolutionarily driven so not our fault, focusing our attention too much on our anxiety-driven thoughts can be unhelpful.  The more we get immersed in our thoughts about things we can’t control and the enormity of the situation, the more hopeless and overwhelmed we are likely to feel. Those feelings can prevent us from engaging in meaningful activities. The impact of doing fewer activities which are important to us is that we can be left feeling more low, frustrated and ineffective. 

The following ideas can help:

1. Focus on what you can control and avoid thinking about what you cannot control:

You can’t control:

• what happens in the future,
• Coronavirus itself or its impact on the world economy,
• decisions that are made at a local, national or international level,
• your feelings.

You can control:

• your behaviour,
• your own hygiene and reducing personal spread of infection,
• limiting excessive watching of the news and not believing everything we read or hear from others,
• being kind to ourselves and others,
• accessing support wherever possible. Ask your manager about what psychological support is available for you as a staff member.

2. Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings.

• It is ok to feel scared at times like these, so if worries show up, allow them to be present and try not to push them away.
•  If we try to fight our thoughts too much with statements like “I should be able to cope” or “I don’t have time to feel this way”, we are more likely to increase our worries and make them bigger.
• Instead try and notice your thoughts as normal responses and be compassionate to yourself about why they are there.

3. Use mindfulness techniques to re-engage in the present moment and “get out of your head”

• If you are sitting, push your body into your chair and notice how it feels.
• Lift your arms up high above your head and notice the stretch in your neck and arms.
• Try and listen out for five sounds, isolate them one at a time, really focus on what they sound like and then try and listen to them altogether again.
• If you are eating, try and focus on the way the food feels in your mouth and how it smells and tastes.

4. As far as possible, engage in activities that are linked with your values and help you do what is important to you. This will improve your emotional wellbeing

5. Try and keep a routine going as much as possible

6. Keep up to date with local updates from your managers and senior leads

 

I am impressed every day by the courage and the dedication that all of our staff are demonstrating in this crisis. I feel proud to be part of such a strong workforce. I am also touched by the small and large acts of kindness I am seeing in our communities. Thinking about the way we are pulling together as a community can bring about feelings of hope, gratitude and unity which are helpful at a time like this. So carry on with your kindness and we will get through this together.

 

In preparing this blog, I would like to acknowledge Dr Russ Harris for his ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) ideas on how to respond to COVID-19. I think the sharing of wellbeing resources at this time is a great example of how we are coming together as a community and working together.