Coping with anxiety during coronavirus

Çise Haşimoğulları, expert psychologist from the Psychological Counseling and Guidance Centre (PCGC) of Cyprus International University (CIU) explained it is very natural that lives of individuals have changed and restricted due to coronavirus, and this may cause an increase in their anxiety levels because of their previous experiences of going out to school/work regularly or using public transportation.

Haşimoğulları pointed out that the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in our country and the world, and individuals are psychologically affected by this process. “Anxiety is one of the most disturbing feelings that people experience. Anxious individuals may show physical symptoms such as extreme irritability, tension, sweating in the palms, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, increased heartbeat, and facial temperature/burning,” she said.

She also recalled that some events in individuals' lives cause anxiety,  “for example, compulsive life events such as being exposed to physical violence, having a car accident, being in a war, illness or death and experiences that seemed difficult to deal with or giving public speeches may cause anxiety”.

Providing information about the methods of dealing with anxiety in this process, Haşimoğulları said, “During this period we need to stay at home for our health; be in contact with our loved ones; pay attention to our diet and sleep patterns; plan how we will spend our time at home; obtain correct information on the subject from official media organs, avoid misinformation, and organize personal time for activities such as physical exercise, yoga, listening to music, meditation to help us reduce our anxiety”.

It was underlined that although this is a challenging process, efforts should be made to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Haşimoğulları also said that “it is always good to do breathing exercises when we feel anxious”.

She stated that professional support should be received in case of need, “when we need it, we can share our anxiety with the person or people we trust and get support for professional help”.