My mum is in her late seventies. She lives with my dad, who is in his early eighties. Both have chronic underlying health conditions, but are reasonably fit and healthy for their ages. Neither of them smoke.
My mum has suffered with serious health anxiety for as long as I can remember, and she has, at various times, convinced herself that she has a range of serious illnesses. In most cases, her fears have been ridiculous and totally without foundation.
Inevitably, she has been very concerned about the spread of the coronavirus. This hasn't been helped by the fact that her lovely nextdoor neighbours are Chinese, and although they haven't recently travelled to China themselves, they are very well connected to the local Chinese community, some of whom may have travelled more recently. I have tried to reassure her that they will be taking sensible precautions for their own benefit, and this seems to have helped.
It's obviously looking now like the virus may not be contained effectively, particularly in light of the latest news from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan, and my mum is getting into panic mode. Unlike most of her health panics, I don't feel that her fears are completely unfounded in this particular situation, although they're certainly being blown out of proportion - we aren't there yet, but the fact is, there is a very real danger that we're heading towards a pandemic, and as elderly people with underlying health conditions, my parents will probably be at a higher risk than most.
She won't talk to her doctor about her anxiety - I have tried to persuade her previously - but I'm concerned about her mental health spiralling out of control. How can I help her to manage her fears and keep things in perspective?