Coping with Coronavirus: How to Stay Calm and Protect your Mental Health. Dr Brendan Kelly

facts are now clear. The first fact is that there is good reason to be worried about coronavirus. It is a new, unfamiliar virus, and some people diagnosed with it will die from it. Many others will become ill, sometimes for several weeks. While the illness is generally mild, it still causes significant suffering and disruptions to personal and family life, as well as broader problems for communities, societies and economies more generally.

      The second fact is that simple behaviours focused on good personal hygiene make an enormous difference to the risk of catching or spreading coronavirus. As a result, there is neither reason nor benefit in excessive anxiety or hysteria. Even so, panic and worst-case thinking have gripped the world. This has gone well beyond the point of prompting awareness and good hygiene and is starting to impair reasoned responses to the outbreak. Therefore, in addition to the public health measures recommended by the WHO and others, there are several psychological measures that can help us to manage the panic that has engulfed the planet and our own excessive personal anxieties about the outbreak.

      HOW THIS BOOK WORKS

      This book presents a psychological toolkit for the management of anxiety and panic related to coronavirus. The book aims to assist readers to recognise the legitimate risks presented by coronavirus, place that risk in context and in proportion, and diminish the unnecessary, disabling panic that many people feel. We have more power than we think.

      Chapter 1 is titled ‘Knowing’ and emphasises the importance of staying informed about coronavirus but not obsessing about it, not filling in knowledge gaps with speculation or random musings from social media, and – most importantly – limiting the time you spend each day consuming information about the outbreak (15 minutes twice per day is plenty). More broadly, this chapter recommends taking time to get to know your ‘information habits’ better and becoming more familiar with how your emotional life actually works. This can be a surprising exercise for many people, and it will help us navigate current and future challenges with greater self-awareness.

      Chapter 2 is titled ‘Thinking’ and explores the importance of thinking clearly about coronavirus while avoiding the common errors that routinely lead us astray and fuel a sense of anxiety and hysteria. In particular, it is important that we focus on what we can control in this situation (especially when explaining coronavirus to children) and that we avoid unhelpful thinking habits such as negative automatic thoughts, over-generalisation, personalisation and negative filtering. Simple exercises such as thought-labelling can help us to consciously recognise irrational thoughts and label them as such in our heads. It is also useful to actively think about the problems that others face, because we gain a deeper perspective when we see ourselves as part of a larger whole.

      Chapter 3 moves on to look at ‘Feeling’ and recommends becoming more aware of our emotions and labelling them clearly as emotions rather than thoughts, in order to recognise their power. It is important to remember that emotions can disguise themselves as behaviours or facts and can therefore mislead us, especially when the world is filled with free-floating anxiety about the current outbreak of coronavirus. Talking to others about our feelings is central to the cultivation of honest, direct awareness. Listening is just as important as speaking. If you want to be heard, listen.

      Chapter 4 centres on ‘Doing’ what we can to assist with our psychological response to coronavirus, and avoiding behaviour we shouldn’t engage in. It is important that we do things that help, such as following public health advice, and refrain from activities that increase panic without delivering any benefit. It is also useful to focus on activities that are not directly related to coronavirus but are vital for our physical and mental wellbeing: maintaining a healthy diet, exercising, prioritising good sleep, spending time outdoors and finding an activity that absorbs us and clears other worries from our minds (if only for defined periods). We should reward ourselves for achievements (however small) and consciously practise compassion towards ourselves and others. There is no ‘me’ with a problem like coronavirus; there is only ‘us’. All health is public health. We can only manage this together.

      Chapter 5 explores the idea of ‘Being’ as opposed to ‘Doing’, on the basis that we are ‘human beings’ rather than ‘human doings’. Coronavirus presents real challenges to how we see ourselves and how we understand the world around us, which suddenly seems more fragile and threatening than before. But there are ways to navigate this anxiety, once we retain a sense of proportion, try not to project other unrelated life problems onto our anxiety about coronavirus, and rediscover the profound value that lies in solidarity with each other, especially at times like this.

      The book concludes with a summary of the advice provided and suggestions for ways to move forward, balancing the problems of today with the possibilities of tomorrow. Working together is key. People quarantined at home in China and Italy sing together out their windows. We need more of that.

      1

      KNOWING