What Our New Age of Pandemic Anxiety Looks Like—And How to Deal With It

of Americans suffer from anxiety, and about half of those people have health anxiety. Health anxiety is the conviction that even though you don’t have any symptoms, you know deep down that you’re sick., when my best friend, Samantha Stein, died of brain cancer right after she turned 40. Her death was confirmation that the worries and preoccupations about bad things that had plagued me for my entire life were in fact going to happen.

But unfortunately for people with anxiety disorders, that drive to “make sure” doesn’t quiet the anxiety. If anything, “reassurance seeking” is the beginning of a miserable cycle. A test would quiet the voices, but sooner or later they would be back again. Just because my lungs were clear a month ago didn’t necessarily mean I was okay now. What was that pain? Anxiety for me really boiled down to the fear of living with uncertainty.

Of course, my anxiety disorder is not the same thing as a healthy fear of COVID. Everyone in the world has been right to be worried over the past 18 months. That said, some of the tricks that have helped me could theoretically help you. Things like trying to stay in the moment, looking at my feet, not getting ahead of myself. I try not to follow my anxious thoughts.

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Covid-19’s Youth Mental-Health Crisis Swamps Schools, Community ProgramsChildren heading back to class will find additional psychologists, counselors and social workers, plans for mental-health screening and new programs to help tackle anxiety and depression. “Our kids have dealt with so much.” Ha, for a second there I though the photo was of kids skydiving. Now that would take your mind off of the pandemic for a few minutes.
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »