Covid-19 Increases Anxiety Disorder

Psychiatrist Specialist. Dr. Tuba Erdogan gave information about the subject. What do you think about the psychological effects of the pandemic, which has become evident with the gradual normalization in the last period? So, what is anxiety disorder and how is it treated?

If we look at the visible results of the Covid 19 epidemic, we see that the most obvious and causing psychological complaints of people is the high death rate. We know that the most important reason that increases the anxiety of human beings is death. This existential anxiety is a situation that is present in each of us but that we try to ignore in the course of life. Each of us has been negatively affected by the pandemic process. While anxiety is defined as the power that should be normal or even within certain limits in our lives, we can roughly call it anxiety disorder when it causes severe disability, especially when the person exhibits avoidance behaviors and produces mental disaster scenarios. Not only anxiety disorder, but also excessive rigor, obsessive compulsive disorder, corona paranoia and psychiatric conditions triggered by increased stress may occur.

So what is anxiety and how is it treated?

Anxiety, which is also defined by names such as anxiety, is actually a kind of defense mechanism that comes into play automatically in case of danger in humans and other living things. This is the result of our fight-or-flight program in times of danger. If there is a dangerous situation in the environment, for example, the situation that living things experience in the face of an aggressive animal is anxiety. In such a scenario, our sympathetic nervous system comes into play. Our blood pressure rises, our breathing quickens, and our pupils dilate. Anxiety disorder occurs when situations that will not cause this mechanism to be activated are defined as danger by general distortions of thought or triggered by a simple event or when there is no reason. I think the biggest mistake in diagnosis is to be a google doctor. In this context, as in other diseases, it would be the most logical solution to consult a physician. Diagnosis can be made easily by psychiatric examination. In the treatment, we experience successful results with both antidepressant and other psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy applications. In fact, the patients' return is as if I wish I had come earlier because we see that the success rates are at a considerable level. Of course, this is a situation that needs to be interpreted specifically for the patient.

What will be the psychological effects on people when the physical effects of the coronavirus epidemic ease?

It can be said that a concept called coronaphobia emerged after the coronavirus. A phobia is defined as a disproportionate feeling of fear and avoidance behavior, even when there is no object or situation to fear. We also know that psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder can occur in a person after an earthquake, natural disaster or a trauma. Similarly, it seems likely that obsessive-compulsive disorders will worsen or occur with symptoms such as anxiety of recurrence, excessive hygiene, and cleanliness. Considering the destruction of such a long-term disease called a pandemic, it will be inevitable that there will be a psychological impact.