Managing Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic
What is anxiety?
One way to conceptualize anxiety is to visualize the parts of your brain that govern fear and emotional regulation as two distinct “tubs” with “faucets” and “drains.” Both of these centers in your brain have a certain “tub” capacity. Stressors including time, people, work, roles, and world stress can turn these “faucets” on, and in combination, can overflow the tubs that govern fear and emotional regulation. This can manifest as unrelenting thoughts and uncomfortable feelings in your body that something is not quite right, which we call anxiety. While anxiety is a natural response our bodies have to stressors, on the extreme end it can start impacting one’s daily life in a negative way.
Stress in today’s world
There are a countless number of potential stressors in today’s world: The loss of a job. Fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Working long hours while taking care of children or other family members. Navigating difficult relationships at home and at work. Increased screen time. Balancing various roles such as being a mother, father, spouse, colleague, or friend. Just to name a few. We are seeing diminished boundaries between work and home life, particularly for those working from home. Often people use food, alcohol or other substances in an effort to temporarily relieve anxiety and modulate feeling. The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, combined with modern day stressors, have collectively overwhelmed the fear and emotional regulation centers of our brains.
Addressing anxiety
These are two ways to address anxiety:
Turning down the fear and emotional regulation center “faucets.” Medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can help turn down these faucets, thereby reducing the uncomfortable feelings produced by high levels of anxiety.
Draining the “tubs.” Skills learned from methods including psychotherapy and mindfulness meditation can drain the fear and emotional regulation center tubs, preventing them from overflowing even when life stressors turn the faucets all the way on.
Oftentimes, the combined approach of medication management and psychotherapy is more effective in addressing anxiety than either alone. In my practice, I discuss the various options for medications used to treat anxiety, and together we come up with a plan for which medication may be best for you. I also help clients incorporate mindfulness and relaxation techniques into their daily routines to help drain these “tubs” no matter what life stressors come their way.
MANAGING ANXIETY WITH PSYCHIATRY
While anxiety is a natural, adaptive survival response, the many different stressors in our lives can cause the “tubs” that govern our fear and emotional regulation centers in the brain to overflow by turning on the “faucets,” resulting in the mental and physical experience of anxiety. If this is happening to you, I would love to work together with you to help improve your quality of life.