Panic refers to the state of inner uneasiness, fear and panic caused by fear or threat. Under the influence of the epidemic situation, people in good health can not often pay attention to their health, but in the face of the coronavirus, all people become susceptible groups. At this time, even the healthiest people begin to have anxiety about death and uncertainty about their health. It's a primitive, deeply rooted anxiety. Part of this anxiety comes from media exaggeration. When too many media are competing to report the same thing, there will be exaggerated reports, which will increase our panic. So when faced with these reports, what we should do is self help.
First of all, avoid catastrophic cognitive processing and let rationality return. In the face of the same threat, some people respond moderately and some people panic excessively, which is the different emotional response caused by the difference of cognitive processing. For example, some people have coughs and are afraid to think "it's over, am I infected?". The correct way is to put on the mask in time, first pay attention to observe their own symptoms, if necessary, first go to the network medical platform for consultation. Use positive actions instead of negative thinking to develop and spread. In order to quickly return to reason at some special time, you can also try to discuss your ideas or decisions with the more rational people around you.
Secondly, avoid information overload and bring more anxiety. If you are more anxious and sensitive to the epidemic information, you can set a frequency of attention for yourself, such as every two hours, no more than 10 minutes at a time. The rest of the time requires you to return to other things in your life, such as sports, entertainment and housework.
Thirdly, respond to the call and recognize the official information release. Actively respond to the call and unified arrangement of the government and the health sector. We should correctly understand the information of the epidemic situation from the official channels, learn to distinguish rationally, avoid following the crowd and being misled by the false information to generate unnecessary negative emotions. In case of any illegal act, such as bid up prices, rumor, etc., it shall be reported in a timely manner.
In such a major epidemic vortex, we should allow ourselves to have panic and anxiety. Panic and anxiety are part of ourselves in this environment. Just like our relaxation and happiness after the epidemic, they are all one of our emotions. We can't rule them out. We should try to learn to live with our own emotions, including panic, anxiety, happiness and joy. When we allow our emotions to exist, we can coexist with our own emotions, and emotions can flow freely. Then we can talk and exchange our emotions with each other. In this way, the troubles and damages brought to us by emotions will be relieved and passed away.
References
Aarti Gupta. (N.D.). COVID-19 Lockdown Guide: How to Manage Anxiety and Isolation During Quarantine. Retrieved from: https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/covid-19-lockdown-guide-how-manage-anxiety-and