Anxiety and Fear During COVID-19: A New Specific Phobia or Just Cabin Fever?

Even before news of stay at home was given to us, we had already started to practice sanitary measures. Nowadays, is very common to see that everybody is wearing mask and using hand sanitizer during the day. Besides that, we have also had to start to do things that had not done before like to wash our hands (or take a shower) when we arrived at home and clean our shoes before to get in. Some others had to find a space to work / study, plan and organize new routines and communicate their schedules to their families so as not to be interrupted in their tasks or to do activities together.

So, we adopt each of the new activities as part of our day to day, and now that some entertaintment sites are resuming and some employers and students have returned to their activities, they are experiencing new emotions in different levels, like Anxiety and Fear.

It reminds us that anxiety and fear are some symptoms of phobia. But first we have to know that anxiety is a feeling alert, just like when we hear the ambulance sirens and are shocked for a moment. By the other side, fear is a basic reaction focus on survive having two ways to reacting: to attach or to scape. Similar like when we see a spider.

Since we know that, the phobia is characterized by an intense and persistent fear to presence or anticipation of objects or situations. Here fear is usually greater than the real danger that it may cause, in addition to the fact that people will do everything possible to avoid the object or situation that causes it. Also, to be diagnosed as a phobia, the fear must be persistent and generally must last for at least six months. Do you know someone with a phobia of dogs, for example?

Well, lately Arparci, Karatas and Baloglu added a new concept: coronaphobia which means “persistent and excessive fear of the novel coronavirus”. They suggest it is a new specific phobia (in DSM-V) because they observed that a significant sample of the population presents symptoms that can be confused with any other phobia.

But with coronaphobia, people can continue presenting conducts and thoughts experienced in different stages of lockdown. For example, being afraid of catching coronavirus, or maybe feel anxious and therefore feel prepared buying resources like food in case there is shortage. Does this remind you of toilet paper shortage? Well, is similar but here the main point is keep that conduct for a while.

Remember that if you feel you cannot continue with your normal life due to a recurring fear you can see a specialist and let them know your problems.

Now, on the other hand, there is a folk term cabin fever that explains that after a while in a certain place (comfortable or not) we get used to it, and when it is time to leave is experienced “irritability, impatience, moodiness, anger and the use of language itself as a means of managing difficulties” (Rosenblatt, Anderson y Jhonson). Also, during cabin fever there may also feel fear of change, of routine and feelings of dissatisfaction.

It should be noted that the latter does not refer to any agoraphobia (anxiety or fear of being in open places) or anxiety generalized (excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events that is present for more than 6 days but not more than 6 months). Rather, it refers to emotions and feelings experienced while being in a place for a long time without the need to suffer pathological symptoms.

In the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” we can see an example of it where the protagonist (Andy Dufresne) is jailed and sentenced to two life sentences. And we know that jail is not that pretty and comfortable place where someone would like to be, but over time, Andy adapts to it with help of a friend. Throughout the movie there are difficult moments full of frustration and irritability, neverthless he keeps doing what he knows how to do until achieves his goal and feels something similar (I do not want to spoil the movie, but I will advise you to go to the next paragraph) when he is about to get out of jail. Why!?

For him, the world is a strange place, he thinks he does not belong to it.

Maybe we are not in a jail or living with strange people, but like Andy, some of us feel like we do not belong to the world (if you have already returned to work or school, for example). How it will be the new normal? Will we be able to adapt to that new normal?

To finish, I want to share with you a bit of my experience during lockdown. I was very angry to go back to work and leave my town to go to the city where I work because that involved several changes like stopping going out for a walk with my dogs and stopping seeing my parents. Little by little I have been adapting to my new routine and I have been understanding what this is all about.

Maybe you too have felt angry and irritated and it is normal! (as long as it does not cause you difficulties in your daily life). Remember that we are going through the lockdown easing and we have to return to our routine slowly controlling all the we can control: our mind and emotions.

Now, I would like to know how your experience has been? What emotions have you experienced? I would love to read you!

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