In this short write up, I would like to share the key psychological aspects of fear and anxiety in the current corona situation. First, let us try to understand what fear and anxiety are. Second, we will look into their bodily and psychological manifestations and third, we will try to see how we can manage fear and anxiety in these times, which are new to us as individuals, families, communities and societies. As we go along, I hope to start a series of such write-ups, where I engage with you, the readers, and answer your questions and doubts. Going forward, write-ups can get into specific aspects such as how different families are reacting to the situation, how the fear of death is showing up as increased panic attacks among some people and what might be the long term impact of stress and fear in the corona situation on our health and well-being.
Why do we feel fear and anxiety? We may look at it in a very general sense and say, ‘Oh, it is obvious isn’t it, all organisms experience fear?’ But let us try to understand fear and anxiety beyond the obvious. What do psychologists know about fear?
Fear – Humans, as do all other species, have a very strong motivation for survival for self and for the group. This survival is coded in our nervous system and has an adaptive function. The fear for survival allows for protective action – it makes the mother safeguard the young, whichever species it may be. Now fear requires a perception of threat and the preparation to face the threat. So, how does fear show itself in the body as it prepares for survival? Fear creates a short term elevation in several of our physiological parameters. The instant an organism recognises a threat and fears for survival, the body kicks in a series of physiological responses – the pupils dilate, the heartbeat and pulse increases, blood pressure increases and adrenaline shoots up. The organism is ready for a fight or a flight. The sympathetic nervous system kicks in. How does fear affect our cognitive process? Well, fear leads to sharp sensory alertness, short term sharp focus, as all the attentional resources are single-pointed. Vigilance and allocation of attentional resources consume massive energy in the brain and the body.
This response and preparedness can only be sustained for some time, and soon the body must restore to a non-threatened state – the parasympathetic system must counter this arousal. Otherwise, the body will collapse. The organism cannot sustain this for a long period. So, three key points – There is a clear understanding of danger and threat; second, the body and cognition prepare for reacting to the danger and the organism must act; and third, very soon the physiological process must start a counter process as this state of fight and flight consumes a lot of energy and is unsustainable. So, how is this different from anxiety and what do we understand by anxiety? Does anxiety overlap with fear? Yes, to some extent anxiety has an overlap with fear. But anxiety is a distinct state of the mind.
What is anxiety? Anxiety is described as a state of a diffused sense of apprehension, rumination, restlessness and nervousness. The key feature here is that anxiety is about an uncertain event and or an outcome. It is about a possibility that may or may not happen. Thus, anxiety has a future focus to it. Contrast this with a clear and present perception of threat in fear. Anxiety is also different from thinking, in that anxiety is ruminative and repetitive. It is mostly non-productive and is differentiated from problem-solving or moving towards a resolution, which has a clear focus (in the future). Usually, we feel anxiety in case of events or outcomes which we feel we have little/no control over, and yet we cannot take our attention away from the event or outcome. Neither do we act in ways to take control of what we can control in the situation. Psychologists have also talked about basic anxiety being associated with uncertainty related to our relationships as well as towards death. The key points here are – firstly a diffused sense of apprehension for the future and second, its non-productivity into doable action points.
Both are unpleasant states and take a heavy toll on our physical and mental energy, work productivity and our interpersonal and social relationships, in the short as well as in the long term. They become aspects of a dysfunctional life pattern and directly affect the possibility of positive emotions and flourishing – happiness, satisfaction and well-being in our living.
With the corona situation triggering irrational schema, can we even think rationally?
In the current context, as societies, groups and individuals we will experience both fear and anxiety to the extent we have developed good or poor coping skills and the maturity of our self-observation and awareness. We will experience fear related to our survival. The nature of the epidemic is based on fear with an actual threat, and not an imagined fear of death, disease and suffering. At this point, we would have to consider a realistic probability that we and/or our near and dear ones may get affected. Note that fear response is triggered through the amygdala in the brain, before rational processes kick in from the frontal lobe in the brain, as has been demonstrated in research. This means organisms are likely to behave in unpredictable and non-normative ways when certain schema get activated. This is seen in India in the stereotyping of certain people – attacking the health care workers, blaming etc. Research also shows that activation of fear schema can easily trigger anger and violence. Additionally, we must consider that there will be micro-level changes in our physiological parameters every time we experience panic as individuals.
We will also experience anxiety related to what will happen to our economy, our households and personal finances, for how long will this last and whether there will be negative events happening to us and our near and dear ones, and the community at large. Many of these questions and apprehensions have no clear answers. So, how do we deal with fear and anxiety, in this current situation?
What are the manifestations of fear and anxiety and how do we deal with fear and anxiety
Apart from the bodily manifestations of fear mentioned earlier, we experience and express anxiety in a way that is unique to our personality and context. Many may feel angry and frustrated. Many may feel suffocated. Many may experience issues like sleeplessness, restlessness and ‘ready to explode’. According to our makeup, age, past history of managing crisis, our coping patterns and our trigger points, we will express our anxieties and fears. Self-observation is singularly important in managing anxiety in this situation. If we are not trained to observe our thoughts on the go, then we can keep a diary and note our reactions and moods. Based on our self-observation, we can then regulate our reactions. Self-awareness leads to self-monitoring and self-regulation.
In terms of managing anxiety, we can create a step by step plan. We can look at lifestyle functions. Our activity, food and sleep schedule need to be regulated. It is useful to create a detailed activity, food/diet and sleep schedule. It is also important to note whether your lifestyle goes in tandem with your moods and mood swings. Your lifestyle, your activities, sleep and food need to calm your moods and anxieties. It follows that your gadget use and the internet content that you view can calm you or agitate you further.
Once your lifestyle is regulated, you have more energy to manage deep-rooted fears and anxieties related to death, our collective future, the future of our children and how we may get our economic engines running etc. If our psychological energy is consumed simply in getting our lifestyles sorted, we would have not much energy left to directly address these deep-rooted fears and anxieties.
At the deepest level, both anxiety and fear are related to death and non-existence. At the spiritual level, there are several lessons that we could draw from spirituality. Whether it is Sanatan Dharma, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and so on, all philosophies have addressed the question of death and dying in their own manner. In western philosophy, existentialism addresses the question of death and dying, including the fear of death. If we examine the contemplations of Buddhism and Sanatan Dharma, we may find succour. My knowledge is limited to these in the Indian tradition, and I will not venture into opinions on issues that I am not well versed with. If we look at Buddhism as well as Sanatan Dharma, they look at death and dying not as a negative event but as an eventuality that must be seen straight on. If we are not the meditative types or the abstract intellectual types, then our cultural resources in the form of stories can yield inspiration to examine the fear of death. The stories of Nachiketas, Markandeya, and Satyavan-Savitri are just some of the many. Nachiketas can inspire us to look at the possibility of courage and persistence to find the Truth. From Markandeya we learn the power of faith and thus, fearlessness. From Savitri, we learn the power of preparation, because she knew that her husband would encounter death. This preparation is implicit in the idea of ‘vrata’ and the year-long timeline given to her. This preparation towards an inevitability can help us to sort our mental landscape and also provide a presence of mind, open up our cognitive space, even in the face of great grief. In Buddhism, the life of Shakyamuni is a great inspiration for recognising the existential nature of suffering arising out of craving, the acceptance of death as an eventuality and the true knowledge – sambodhi of reality.
If we don’t find these stories useful, then look at it evolutionarily where we are humbled by the sheer inconsequence of human life. The great Prakriti and the pancha-mahabhutas – the forces of nature are not ordinary/limited as humans tend to imagine. They are vast, gigantic and astronomical forces! Space is not just the space between two objects; space is also between galaxies! The principle of fire represented by the massive Sun in the solar system is just one of the middle-level stars in our galaxy and there are hundreds of galaxies! Earth, which is so old; giant creatures have lived, flourished and then vanished. It is indeed narcissistic to say that somehow we must have a special privilege as individuals, communities, societies and as a species.
If we are indeed the ‘intellectual types’, then Vedanta talks of the ultimate unreality of the individualistic self and a continuous knowing of a non-personal, universal consciousness-as-such. In that framework, death is a misnomer, an appearance, just like birth, the idea of bondage, rebirth or liberation. If we are able to grasp the radical, paradigm shift in this powerful idea, then there is nothing left to agitate over. We are at peace because the idea of the individual self as real was the source of agitation – the source of anxiety and fear.
If Vedanta doesn’t seem to convince, then existentially, we need to encounter the idea of death and dying. In the end, perhaps, greater than death is the fear of death. The existential encounter of the nature of our mortal, puny and yet supremely self-absorbed selves. The deepest resolution is the acceptance of our mortality.
As a psychologist, one is equidistant from all religions and philosophies, we need to utilise what makes sense to us. The objective is to find a resolution, whatever the choice of philosophy, religion or method may be.
The Mrytunjaya Mantra, enunciated by the Yajurveda refers to nourishment and completion of life and living. And then, just as a ripe cucumber is happy to let go, life is ready to let go and yield. If and when we reach that resolution, then we would follow all the social distancing norms and we would take all the precautions, and yet, we would then be anchored into that immovable stillness of acceptance. That would be our victory over corona; a psychological vaccine for the self and mind-body complex. That would be an opportunity that the coronavirus provides; to free ourselves of lifetimes of rumination, fear and anxiety.
An excellent article on how to survive the fear and anxiety of Corona. What is nicer here is the fact that you have used the most acceptable term for Hinduism, that is Sanatana Dharma, throughout the article. I remembered Prof. Dharam Bhawuk’s workshop which insisted in using Indian terminologies for Indian words. I think, the time has come for us to put it into practice and you have shown the way. Thanks.