Coronavirus Anxiety

Tips to Help Manage Coronavirus Anxiety – Click here for a PowerPoint Presentation – Click here for a link to a video of the same

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It is not easy to stay calm when the news is full of bulletins about Coronavirus and it is sure to cause anxiety, so here’s a few bullet points to help you manage your stress:

  • Don’t keep the news on all day long – you want to keep up to date, but don’t keep checking and reading the latest updates as this can become compulsive

  • Try having a news detox or allocating yourself a time limit for reading or watching news; if you’re worried about missing something crucial, ask others to update you

  • Try not to seek constant reassurance as this only provides temporary relief as you become increasingly reliant on reassurance, reinforcing anxiety

  • Introduce a ban on Googling symptoms – Google, message-boards and forums are not, and never will be, a source of calm, especially when you are already anxious

  • Use a Cognitive Behavioural exercise by giving a persistent thought the courtroom treatment – confront it with a rational counterstatement; so if your persistent thought is something like “Everyone I love will die from this virus” you can counter it with a factual statement such as “Actually, most people who get Coronavirus will make a full recovery, and that’s assuming they will even catch it at all”

  • Do some exercise, even if it’s just star jumps or shaking your body parts; this will help get the adrenaline out of your system and channel the anxiety elsewhere

  • Breathing exercises – use a strong smell, such as lavender oil, to ground you and bring you back to reality

  • Grounding exercises – do something simple like bending over to touch your toes or sitting on the floor for a while instead of on the sofa – change your usual habits

  • Allocate yourself a daily ‘worry period’ – give yourself 5 minutes each morning to worry to your heart’s content – write it all down – then get on with your day

  • Treat yourself to something that will give you a boost without spending money – cook yourself something nice, have a hot bath or listen to a song you love

  • Remember that this isn’t permanent; yes, it is a worrying time, and some of us may have loved ones who are affected, but don’t jump to the worst-case scenario

  • Above all, be kind to yourself, you’re doing great…
Amber Path Counselling