MIND MATTERS
Act against anxiety
Psychotherapist Owen O’ Kane on keeping calm during the pandemic
I
t’s no surprise that research studies say more people are experiencing higher anxiety levels since the pandemic began.Anxiety is clinically defined as an intolerance of uncertainty. The past year has been one of the most uncertain periods since wartime. Each day we are confronted with headlines about loss of life, lockdowns and economic hardship, as harrowing images are splashed across our screens.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve clapped, cried and felt little sense of control. Life as we know it changed overnight with the first lockdown, and with that came a real sense of threat. Anxiety, of course, thrives when the mind perceives greater threat and, like a pandemic, it can spread if it is not managed.