Outbreak anxiety can bring memories of the pandemic years flooding back with news of a new disease. We look at its signs, its causes and ways of coping.
A notification drops onto your phone: "New virus detected in a distant country." As soon as you read the headline, a familiar knot forms in your stomach. All at once you remember empty supermarket shelves, parcels left waiting at the door, the cologne you rubbed on your hands until they turned red, the parents you could not see for months. You do not know the details of the story, and perhaps it is nothing serious at all; but your body has already gone back to the spring of 2020. Outbreak anxiety is not only fear of a new disease; it is also the reawakening of the traces a period you lived through has left in your body and mind. In this article we look at how this anxiety arises, why it is felt more strongly by some people and how you can build a more balanced relationship with it.
What Is Outbreak Anxiety?
Outbreak anxiety is an intense worry reaction to the thought that an infectious disease might spread, or is already spreading. A certain amount of concern is healthy and useful: it leads us to wash our hands, to stay away from crowds when we are ill and to follow official health advice.
Anxiety becomes a problem when it goes beyond this function. After reading the news, the person thinks about it for hours, feels compelled to follow every new development and interprets every small change in their body as a symptom of illness. Even when there is no concrete danger yet, the mind begins to live through months of lockdowns, losses and loneliness in advance.
Outbreak anxiety is not a diagnosis. Sometimes it is a reflection of a general tendency towards anxiety, sometimes of the worry about illness known as health anxiety, and sometimes of distressing experiences from the past.
Why Do Pandemic Memories Come Back So Easily?
The pandemic years were a long period full of uncertainty that almost the whole of society went through at the same time. Periods like this are stored in memory not as ordinary memories, but as emotionally charged traces.
The body remembers
The human brain works to recognise situations it associates with danger quickly. Words such as "new virus", "case numbers" and "quarantine" can automatically call up the feelings of fear and helplessness that accompanied them years ago. That is why a person may feel a racing heart, restlessness or nausea in their body even while telling themselves, quite logically, "Nothing has happened yet."
Losses may be unfinished
Many people lost someone close to them during that time. Being unable to say goodbye in hospital, being unable to attend the funeral and receiving condolences by phone left the natural rituals of grief incomplete. News of a new outbreak can also bring this grief, which could never be fully lived, to the surface.
Loneliness and a sense of confinement
Not being able to leave home, children following lessons on a screen, being able to see elderly parents only from the balcony, the fear of losing your job... These experiences feed the thought "If it happens again, I won't be able to bear it." Anxiety is directed not only at the illness itself, but at the life changes it could bring.
Much of what happened in those years was left behind without ever really being talked about. When restrictions were lifted, everyone tried to return to their old life as quickly as possible: to work, to school, to weddings and to Bayram visits. This rapid return left little time to digest what had happened. Experiences that were never dwelt on can come back with all their original vividness once they find a suitable trigger.
What Are the Signs of Outbreak Anxiety?
Outbreak anxiety does not look the same in everyone. Still, there are some common signs:
- A news-checking loop: checking case numbers, expert statements and social media comments many times a day.
- Body scanning: immediately judging a slight tickle in the throat, tiredness or a sneeze with the question "Have I caught it?"; taking your temperature often.
- Excessive precautions: developing cleaning and disinfection habits that go far beyond official recommendations.
- Avoidance: staying away from public transport, from hospitals, or from a crowded wedding or funeral.
- An urge to stockpile food and medicines: shopping well beyond your needs with the thought "What if we go into lockdown again?"
- Sleep and concentration problems: scenarios spinning in your mind when you get into bed at night, being unable to focus on work or study during the day.
- Anger and tension: irritability towards people you think are not taking precautions, or frequent arguments at home about precautions.
Not all of these signs need to appear together. Some people experience mostly physical reactions, while others may be constantly occupied mentally.
Who Feels Outbreak Anxiety More Intensely?
Not everyone who reads the same news is affected to the same degree. Some life circumstances and experiences can lay the ground for anxiety to be felt more strongly.
Those who lost someone during the pandemic: For people who lost a loved one during that period, news of a new outbreak can bring back both the loss itself and the helplessness of that time.
Healthcare workers: Nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers who worked long and exhausting shifts during the pandemic, and who had to live apart from their families, know at first hand what a new wave would mean. This knowledge can make the anxiety more concrete.
People with chronic illnesses and their families: People with weakened immunity, older people or those living with a chronic illness, and those who care for them, experience the risk more personally.
Those who are struggling financially: For people who lost their jobs, had to close their shops or fell into debt during lockdowns, an outbreak is not only a health matter but a matter of making a living. At a time when the cost of living already feels heavy, this anxiety can grow even larger.
Those who find uncertainty hard to tolerate: Staying with the feeling "I don't know what will happen" is extremely uncomfortable for some people. They try to resolve this uncertainty by gathering information, checking or thinking through the worst in advance. We also discuss this subject in our article on uncertainty anxiety.
How Does Outbreak Anxiety Affect Daily Life?
Anxiety does not stay inside the mind; it spills over into relationships, work and the way the body functions.
Let's say a teacher in her thirties lost her father during the pandemic. Since the day she read the news about a new virus, she has been unable to decide each morning whether to wear a mask on the minibus to school, and when one of her pupils coughs, she spends the rest of the lesson focused on that pupil. In the evenings she phones her mother to warn her, "Don't go out", and then feels guilty when her mother gets annoyed. The news does not yet point to any local danger; but her days have already changed.
Over time, this kind of anxiety can lead to:
- Withdrawal from social relationships and growing isolation
- Reduced productivity at work or school
- Tension within the family about precautions
- Avoiding hospital even when there is a real health problem
- The exhaustion that comes from being constantly on alert
The memory of a hard period you went through in the past is not proof that the same thing will happen again today.
What Can You Do to Cope With Outbreak Anxiety?
Getting rid of outbreak anxiety completely may not be a realistic goal; but it is possible to reduce its intensity and its effect on your life.
Simplify your sources of information
Comments on social media, unverified claims and sensational headlines are the sources that make anxiety grow fastest. Choose official sources, such as the Ministry of Health and international health organisations, and follow developments only through them. Checking once a day is usually enough.
Separate what you can control
Draw two columns on a piece of paper: "Things within my control" and "Things outside my control." Hand hygiene, sleep, diet and your vaccination schedule can go in the first column; how fast the virus spreads and developments in other countries can go in the second. Directing your energy towards the first column reduces the sense of helplessness.
Tell the past apart from the present
When anxiety rises, you can ask yourself: "What is actually happening right now? Which part is a memory from the past?" Today is not 2020; medical knowledge, the experience of the health system and society's preparedness are different from back then. Making this distinction helps to settle the body's state of alarm.
Do not rush to interpret physical reactions
Anxiety itself can cause a racing heart, a feeling of breathlessness, an upset stomach and tiredness. Rather than immediately interpreting every symptom as illness, it is healthier to wait a while and, if necessary, consult your family doctor. Taking your temperature again and again or searching symptoms online may bring brief relief, but it feeds anxiety in the long run.
Keep your routine
Regular sleep, mealtimes, movement and social contact act as a natural buffer against anxiety. Try not to switch early to a way of life that recalls the disconnection of the pandemic, and keep up your habits as much as possible.
Set aside a time for worry
Trying to suppress worries that arrive scattered throughout the day often does not work; a suppressed thought comes back more often. Instead, you could set a "worry time" of fifteen to twenty minutes a day. When a thought about the outbreak comes up during the day, make a brief note of it and tell yourself, "I'll think about this at six this evening." At the time you have set, look at your notes and consider whether there is anything you can do about each one. After a while, many people notice that a large share of these notes have lost their power by the time the set hour arrives.
Keep your connection with people
One of the hardest parts of the pandemic period was loneliness. Starting to withdraw as soon as news of a new outbreak arrives, even when there are no restrictions at all, calls back the loneliness of that time too early. Keep meeting your friends, having a cup of tea with your neighbour and phoning your relatives. Sharing your anxiety with someone you trust also helps you see its realistic size; you often discover that you are not the only one feeling this way. Phoning elderly relatives who live alone regularly can bring comfort to them and to you.
Notice your grief
If you lost someone during the pandemic and this news brings that loss back to life, do not see this as a weakness. Holding a small ritual to remember your loss, talking about it with someone close to you or writing a letter can help to complete part of the grief that was left unfinished.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
It is natural to be affected by a health story in the news. However, you might consider getting support from a mental health professional in the following situations:
- If the anxiety has lasted for weeks and takes up most of your day
- If you are finding it hard to leave home, go to work or keep up social relationships
- If cleaning and checking behaviours take hours and you feel intense distress when you try to stop
- If images, nightmares or sudden memories related to the pandemic often come into your mind
- If grief for a loss you experienced during the pandemic still feels very heavy
- If sleeplessness, lack of motivation and hopelessness have started to shape your days
How Is Outbreak Anxiety Addressed in Therapy?
In therapy, the first step is to try to understand the anxiety's particular structure for that person: what triggers it, what thoughts it brings with it, and what the person does to cope with those thoughts. Sometimes it emerges that the real burden is not fear of illness, but losses that were lived through or the loneliness of the lockdown period.
In cognitive behavioural therapy, ways of thinking such as catastrophising, overestimating likelihood and intolerance of uncertainty are examined. Behaviours such as excessive checking, constant news-following or avoidance are reduced step by step, at a pace the person is ready for. The person experiences that they can wait even when anxiety rises, and that anxiety falls on its own over time.
For people who went through distressing experiences during the pandemic, time can also be set aside to process those experiences. Feelings such as unfinished grief, guilt or anger are talked through in a safe setting. Work in the area of anxiety and panic aims to reduce the extent to which this kind of anxiety restricts daily life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it normal to remember the pandemic days after news of a new outbreak?
Yes. Memories of a long and uncertain period that affected the whole of society can easily come alive with similar news. This reaction usually eases with time. If the memories come very often and make your daily life difficult, it may be helpful to talk about this with a professional.
What is the difference between taking precautions and excessive anxiety?
Precautions are generally in line with official health advice and allow you to carry on with the rest of your life. With excessive anxiety, precautions go far beyond the advice, take hours and cause intense unease when they are not carried out. The measure is not only whether the behaviour protects you, but how far it narrows your life.
Should I keep the elderly people in my family at home to protect them?
It is important to follow official advice for the health of your elderly relatives. However, keeping them at home for long periods when there is no official restriction can create other risks, such as loneliness, inactivity and loss of motivation. It is healthier to make decisions together, taking their views into account and consulting their doctor if necessary.
How should I explain outbreak news to my children?
It is enough to tell them what you know and what you are doing, in short, calm language suited to their age. Listening to their questions, and honestly saying "We don't know yet, but we're keeping an eye on it" about things you do not know, gives them a sense of security. Take care not to voice your own anxiety out loud in front of them.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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