Living with OCD and Anxiety disorder is nightmare during Corona virus – Covid19!
According to best psychologists in Delhi, corona virus is not only impacting physical health but mental health also. People are getting fearful, scared, worried and anxious seeing effect of corona virus all over the world. During online session these days psychologists have observed common pattern of worry and anxiety among people. Patients with OCD and Anxiety disorders are facing more challenges these days know why by reading below.
Amita first showed signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder during her adolescent. It initially took the shape of harmless quirks, like organizing dolls & dinosaur toys by shape, number and color. As she grew symptoms crept in, such as being afraid of public doorknobs or worrying that she’d use a bad egg when baking and cause someone she loves to become sick
Amita 27 now, held her OCD symptoms through medication that did not work and came to Dr R K Suri leading Clinical Psychologist for therapy as result kept her symptom away through exposure and response prevention therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy supportive friends and family and internal pep talks. Then COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus began to spread acted as trigger and threatened to set her back on the progress she’s made in convincing herself that her fear of circulating an illness is overblown.
Her obtrusive thoughts became an endless stream of “what ifs.” What would happen if she was quarantined? Will she contract the virus? What if her family or friend dies because of getting the virus from her? When she washes her hands hourly and disinfects her surrounding she tells herself: “This is not OCD this is necessary action but it doesn’t stop her racing thoughts.
“I’m afraid that I’m going to want to continue those when the crisis is over,” Amita said of her constant hand-washing and sanitizing, “and as a result, really take steps back in my progress.”
The Pandemic of Coronavirus is never seen before.
Nearly 7 million people in the U.S. are affected by generalized anxiety disorder and about 6 million by panic disorder. While the concern about the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of people Globally starting from China, to Italy, Spain, Iran, France, UK, Americans and Indians from all walks of life, therapist at TALKTOANGEL.COM had counsel with people with mental health issues — including anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD and panic disorder treating them, reflect a particular chaos the virus has caused.
Majority of people with these disorders are going through a wave of similar thoughts & emotions. They have fear that they or someone else shall become sick, even if they aren’t showing any symptoms. Further, those who already keep hand sanitizer and disinfectant with them at all times suddenly can’t find those products at stores thanks to panic shoppers on account of pandemic. The irony here is that for some their daily routine of cleanliness is suddenly everyone else’s reality now while others who previously tried not to do isolation are now made to do so as measure to prevent coronavirus.
That everyone is now talking about social distancing, which is what I was enjoying by being away from my friends, relatives that I do more cleaning and sanitizing, now suddenly describing how social distancing is giving more time to worry and soliciting support. Mental health counselors at TALKTOANGEL say the wave of anxiety is seen never before like this in patients.
One of Dr R K Suri OCD patient nearly canceled an appointment as he was concerned, he had touched his nose too much and could give the coronavirus to Dr Suri, he said. Another, with generalized anxiety disorder, couldn’t stop worrying about their family members living in other countries or different parts of India.
According to Dr Suri every patient counselled in the past few weeks has had anxiety related to COVID-19. We received calls from people who have never struggled with anxiety before but are now having difficulty coping with work or school changes or loss of income.
My Normal is Now Everybody Normal
For Barbara, 24, a resident at London, it’s not the virus that makes her afraid; “it’s other people’s hysteria and panic that makes me most anxious.” “Suddenly everyone is like you, feels they need disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer as much as you feel you do, every single day of your life,” Barbara said. “Your normal has become everyone else’s normal.”
A 24-year-old transgender man with social anxiety and panic disorder living in Mumbai who has spent the past couple weeks trying to replenish their hand sanitizer, had a similar sentiment.
Dr Suri offering advice to clients as he always has, encouraging them to:
(a) Set up rules they can follow, such as how often they’ll allow themselves to clean their homes or when they’ll wash their hands without impeding daily life.
(b) Distinguish between Signal and Noise, the signal is anything which is useful and important to notice and noise is that need to be avoided as repetitive, and compulsive pattern.
(c) Avoid to be self-critical and do not overboard on assurance, use logical though patterns and seek help
