COVID-19 comment: Lockdown anxiety affecting people in different ways
14 April 2020
Professor Patricia Riddell, Professor of Appplied Neuroscience at the University of Reading, said:
"As we move into the fourth week of lockdown, some people will be becoming more accustomed to their own new normal and will be setting up routines and developing new habits. This will help to take some of the extreme novelty out of the situation and, at least for a while, reduce the anxiety.
"As we become familiar with new ways of working, new software, new routines, we develop a greater sense of control and self-efficacy. This will help to reduce anxiety. The time taken to acclimatise to the new normal will vary between individuals - as will the time taken for this to become rather routing and even potentially boring.
"Finding ways to keep ourselves challenged by continuing to learn and try new things will be important in keeping the people who enjoy challenge from becoming bored, thus increasing the urge to break the rules.
"But for people who are anxious about their job and/or their financial situation, or are working on the front line and so are anxious about their health and the health of their families, the world will be a very different place. These people are likely to experience increasing anxiety as time spent in lockdown increases with no end in sight.
"Time with little to do just provides more opportunity to worry or ruminate about the things that causing the anxiety. For these people, some sense that this will end is more important in order to give them hope and allow them to plan how to manage their limited to resource to cope for the duration of the lockdown. Similarly, knowing that there will be a time when you are no longer threatening your own and your family’s health by working will make it easier to get up every day and return to the frontline.
"Sweeping generalisations about how people are coping will not help since this situation affects individuals in such different ways. Tailoring the message for particular groups, reminding those that are working at home that they are the fortunate ones, and encouraging compassion for those who are less fortunate, will be important in keeping everyone safe."