How does the Corona pandemic affect anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders?
For people who already have anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the issue of Sars-CoV-2 may exacerbate symptoms.
They stop leaving their homes or wash their hands compulsively for fear of infection. Our author explains the different clinical pictures and therapeutic approaches and illustrates them with a case study.
"It is not things in themselves that trouble a man, but his view of things" (Epictetus; Greek philosopher, 50-138 AD). Does this statement also apply in times of Sars-CoV-2, the so-called novel coronavirus? Indeed, there are different ways of dealing with the virus: from "too casual" to "too panicky."
The disease caused by Sars-CoV-2 is Covid-19, the acronym standing for "Corona Virus Disease 2019." Worldwide, the virus causes many infected people and deaths and poses enormous challenges to everyone. Life has changed; it will probably take years for the economy, society, culture, and more to recover. Can life return to normal? What will come next? There are questions that no one can answer, but one thing is certain: life has changed and will not be the same as before Covid-19.
Furthermore, what does the virus do to people whose lives were already affected by fears before the outbreak of the "viral threat"? Fear is life-sustaining, to begin with; it can also be supportive and motivating. Think of the fear of an upcoming exam. Only when this "normality" gets out of balance does the affected person become a slave to his fear and necessary help. This is when a client can no longer leave the apartment or constantly calls his relatives to know if they are okay. Or when anxiety becomes a trigger for physical symptoms, such as a racing heart or dizziness.
The big challenge is to distinguish real anxiety from pathological anxiety. In the "world of Corona," this is a particular challenge. This is because real fears are tied to situations that pose a threat in real terms. This undoubtedly includes Covid-19. And the fear of it is rising. In a survey conducted by Infratest dimap at the beginning of April 2020 on the fear of infection with the coronavirus, 17% of Americans said they were very afraid, 34% were very afraid, 35% were less fearful, and for 14% the fear was relatively small. Fears are not the only issue in this context, but many more, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. What does the virus do to people with OCD? One of many sensible and important protective measures to prevent the virus from spreading is washing hands thoroughly for at least 30 seconds and disinfecting hands. However, a person who has previously washed their hands 200 times a day and discussed other washing rituals with their therapist may now fall back into old patterns.
The clinical picture of anxiety disorders
According to ICD-10, anxiety disorders include:
Agoraphobia with and without panic disorder,
social phobia,
specific phobias,
panic disorders,
generalized anxiety disorder (affects Mrs. D. from the case study),
anxiety and depressive disorder, mixed.
In the upcoming ICD-11, the following groupings are found:
generalized anxiety disorder,
panic disorder,
agoraphobia,
specific phobias,
separation anxiety disorder,
selective mutism.