How are people so calm about Covid?

[BumbleWumble]

I have written several posts now and been told my reaction is not normal and that I need help for my mental health as I am suffering from health anxiety.

But how do you come to terms with coexisting with this disease, possibly forever if no vaccine is found? A highly contagious disease that you run the risk of catching everywhere you go and might kill you. Even if it doesn't you might be left with severe incapacitating organ damage. Or you might get the long haul version that goes on for months at least. Since the disease is so new no one actually knows if people with this form actually ever get better.

This doesn't seem an equivalent risk to say driving a car. It seems that eventually most people will contract it. True, many people would have a mild version then recover, although even the mild version is supposed to be a nasty experience. But a vast number of people would either die, be left with terrible lasting damage or be ill for months, possibly permanently. Also it's not known whether lasting immunity is conferred, so you might initially get a mild version then get a more severe version at a later date. And as well as this, there is the constant fear of loved ones getting it and that you might pass it on to them. Or that you might unknowingly infect any one.

In addition to this, our quality of life will be awful. As well as the threat of the actual virus constantly hanging over us, social distancing will remain necessary and we will never be able to freely interact with other people ever again. People will not be able to be close with family and friends. There will be no proper socialising, no events where people gather. There will be fear every time an indoor space has to be shared with others. Indoor workplaces especially will be a major risk forever more. As will public transport.

We will just lead a terribly bleak existence knowing that at some point we will likely catch the disease regardless with a relatively high chance of a terrible outcome. Or if not us then a loved one.

I don't understand how people aren't more concerned about this and put it on a par with other daily risks such as driving a car. It is so terrible the whole world has come to a halt over it, and if no vaccine is found quickly, is going to have a catastrophic impact on humanity as a whole as far as I can see.

I realise there will be no choice but to get on with life, but I do not know how to do this without an ever present sense of anxiety and dread. I can think of little else and if this is to be the future then I fear the rest of my life consisting of terrible fear waiting for it to get me and loved ones.

I feel utter despair and terror. It's like a nightmare with no end.

"Mild and moderate cases were usually defined as those without pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission."
[[https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/in-patients-of-covid-19-what-are-the-symptoms-and-clinical-features-of-mild-and-moderate-case/ cebm]

"[A] mild infection starts normally with a fever, although it may take a couple of days to get a fever. You will have some respiratory symptoms; you have some aches and pains. You'll have a dry cough. This is what the majority of individuals will have."
npr

Yes, raven. Mild doesn't mean what I usually mean when I say mild, that's my point. Look at the threads on here with people still suffering after months. They all have mild cases according to the doctors.

Note that OP is suffering from anxiety, and even discussion by people trying to explain why the risk is low is still triggering her anxiety - let alone people making factually incorrect, vague hints about things being worse than you might think.

Bumble, I see that you haven't posted any new threads today about your fears under this user name. I hope that means that you are managing to reduce your site usage! Let us know if you do manage to get through a day or two without focusing on it quite so much

@Gwenhwyfar - I'd rather not discuss it on this thread; as I say, it's doing Bumble no good. Maybe you could start your own thread to go into the details of how cases are defined.

Bumble all the best and hope you feel better soon.

The thing is I don't really want to come to depend on anti depressants. I was not depressed or overly anxious before this and did not require any medication.

I just really fear for the future as it seems potentially very frightening to me with no end in sight, and I am not sure how other people are coping. Some are obviously coping by being in a state of denial, for example thinking the virus will just burn itself out. Others I guess are simply more brave and resilient in the face of such adversity, and are able to just get on with things fairly easily.

It seems to me that everything basically hinges on a vaccine. If we don't get that, then every one will remain at risk of catching the disease indefinitely and social distancing will have to become permanent. A future of trying to coexist with and avoid the virus while having to keep away from fellow human beings fills me with dread. It seems totally dystopian.

It seems whenever there is a glimmer of hope, it turns out to be unwarranted. For example the number of reported cases/deaths for yesterday in the UK is far lower than it has been. This is good news and suggests we could still eradicate it. But some one has posted in another thread how Israel relaxed lockdown and now their cases have shot back up. And how this will happen in the UK since we are now relaxing restrictions.

I know there are other possibilities even if no vaccine materialises. Effective treatments that vastly reduce the death rate would bring much reassurance. And any kind of instant test to show if some one is infected would be a huge game changer. But we are most of us relying on the genius of a few to get us out of this. The alternative is having to live with it, possibly expecting to get it multiple times if long term immunity does not turn out to be conferred. This seems a very scary future to me. I really do want to maintain hope that we will not have to coexist with it in that way, but rather that it will somehow be brought under control.

I took antidepressants for the length of time I needed to, and don't take them any more. SSRIs are not addictive; speak to your doctor about your fears.

If you do get yourself a browser website blocker, I'd suggest setting it up so that you can discuss the subject during the late morning or just after lunch. This time of night is the ideal time to talk about it if you want to sleep badly.

OP...

You’re not listening to reason because you’re in a blind panic.
Nothing anyone says to you is getting through because you’re in a cycle of panic.
Please see a therapist.

It's got nothing to do with being brave, though. You don't fend off mental health issues by being brave. It is not about your character. You are suffering from anxiety because you have developed a mental health disorder. It can hapen to literally anyone.

Sick talks sense.
Your anxiety is in overdrive. The GP thinks you need medication. You need to speak to your GP.

OP, can you do a small task for yourself? Can you write down - in bullet points - the various advantages you find for yourself after doing the following things -

1. Reading online discussions or material about the pandemic
2. Engaging in online discussions about the pandemic.

Can you objectively write down the benefits you are deriving from these activities? So write down benefits for your physical health, mental health, family, etc etc.

So try writing sentences that say “engaging in deep online research about covid19 regularly helps me (sleep peacefully/feel reassured/feel happy)” etc?

If you struggle to put these points together can you put in honest descriptions of what’s happening instead? So “engaging in deep regular discussions about the pandemic gives me clammy hands. I do not like to have clammy hands” or some such?

Have you considered self-referring yourself to your local IAPT services? They do have a waiting list but offer very effective online or telephone CBT and mindfulness based talking therapies. Usually with solutions focused high intensity therapists who can really make a difference. There will be loads of IAPTs in your area perhaps if you google and you can self refer to as many as you wish. So if you are in Portsmouth for example just google “IAPT Portsmouth” and go from there? You don’t need to go via GP for this.

@Namesgonenow Is there a name for that method? Sounds interesting, I could do with something like that for an unrelated problem.

Sorry for numerous posts but the condition you have developed is so powerful because it is convincing. It convinces you that your are right and the 16 pages of chat on this thread are noise/delusional idiots. It’s v v hard to make the leap and seek help because seeking help means disbelieving this convincing mega powerful narrative in your head. So - do you have someone who can give you that extra push? A spouse or best friend or sibling who you can show this thread? Request them to read the thread and pretty much hold your hand onto an IAPT website and sit with you while you self refer or sit by you while you speak to GP? Because currently I feel your situation is such that making that leap by disbelieving your mental story is proving impossible. Can you find someone else to give you the shove? A trusted person who can read this thread for themselves?

@ravenmum hiya no name. It’s a CBT technique I picked up from my IAPT therapist when I had a baby at the start of this pandemic and found the lockdown really hard with an infant amidst such isolation. She really helped me look at life/relationships differently and helped focus mind on more fruitful endeavours!

Bluebrian post above is the precise reason why engaging with such content is going to be damaging for your fragile mental health OP

Some people positively thrive on stoking fear by sharing frightening stories, repeatedly.

The article is anecdotal, i shrugged off the vague, subjective, anonymous accounts. But read through a microscope of anxiety could be terrifying.

Iran is a different country they may not be social distancing, you could also compare to other countries such as Netherlands, France, who have lifted restrictions and been OK

But we can have what is called a 'negativity bias' in CBT which means latching on the negatives which reinforce your thoughts. Similar to the American friend- while ignoring more positive information.

@GabriellaMontez

Some people positively thrive on stoking fear by sharing frightening stories, repeatedly.

The article is anecdotal, i shrugged off the vague, subjective, anonymous accounts. But read through a microscope of anxiety could be terrifying.

So true I don't get that mindset

Who in their right mind gets off on creating more fear and anxiety

Would a doctor come here and tell somebody to take something/not take something?

No? well don't do it.

The thing is I don't really want to come to depend on anti depressants

OK sadly I broke my tib and fib in accident. It wasn't my fault, shit happens. Do i turn to the doctor and say " Gee thanks doc, but I don't want to depend on those pain killers"

Thanks @Namesgonenow :)

Would a doctor come here and tell somebody to take something/not take something?
Bumble's doctor gave her the medication, and was presumably expecting her to take it. I can't see what's wrong with encouraging OP to take her own doctor's advice, when she is clearly suffering from the issues she went to her doctor about.

The thing is that people die every day. Often elderly but not always. Sometimes younger people die - from illness, from accidents, sometimes from mental illness. There will be a tsunami of illnesses following the latest virus scare.

It is perhaps useful to put statistics into perspective. In 1959 there were over 40,000 cases of measles in the UK in the first three weeks of the year. That's a pretty rampant infectious disease raging through the country in a very short space of time,by any standards.

At the time, according to reports in medical journals, GPs around the country considered it to be a relatively mild infection. There was no isolation, no masks, children were encouraged to be up and about as soon as they stopped feeling ill. There was no attempt to stop the spread of the disease. The view being that if children got the disease young then that was a good thing.

According to the medical journal reports, parents often told doctors after their children had recovered from measles how much better their children seemed. Perhaps an important milestone in the development of the immune system? That is what was said at the time.

We are being manipulated in this latest situation. Unfortunately it's all about money.