More than 200 people have died from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Photo by iStock.
When, the sixth-grader asks, will I be able to return to school? How, the single mother wonders, will I pay my mortgage if my employer lays me off? And what will happen if my grandparents get sick?
As government officials and public health experts continue to monitor the global spread of COVID-19, fear of the unknown has raised anxiety levels among ,听, and聽聽all over the world,听says Paul Kline, a mental health expert at Boston College.
鈥淭his is a crisis unlike any most of us have ever experienced,鈥� says Kline, a professor in the Boston College School of Social Work who provided psychotherapy to individuals and families for more than 30 years. 鈥淎s we anticipate that it may reach into our homes and into our own lives, the worry and fear can begin to feel overwhelming and unbearable.鈥�
Anxiety disorders represent the of mental illness in the United States, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. The National Institute of Health that more than 40 million adults in the United States suffer from an anxiety disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Kline urges people with anxiety caused by COVID-19 to focus on the daily tasks that they can complete rather than the questions that they cannot answer. Students can watch online lectures and video chat with their friends. Parents can read to their children. Grandchildren can to their grandparents or stream movies that they can watch together.
Paul Kline, a professor in the Boston College School of Social Work.
鈥淚t is helpful, I think, to live through this season of fear and worry one day at a time,鈥� says Kline. 鈥淭his approach would encourage us to manage this overwhelming crisis in small bites鈥攏arrowing our vision to those parts of the crisis that we can influence today and leaving those other parts for another day.鈥�
More than 33,000 people have contracted COVID-19 in the United States, according to the latest numbers released by the聽, and 400 people have died.
Government officials and public health experts have urged Americans to聽 with each other to slow the spread of the disease. Organizers have large gatherings of 50 or more people, including parades, concerts, and sporting events. Gyms, movie theaters, and schools have . Restaurants have to carry-out only.聽
Kline encourages people to turn toward their friends and family to help them cope with the social, economic, and educational fallout caused by COVID-19. He says people who share their feelings with those they love often experience a sense of relief, as though a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.聽聽
鈥淎t the end of the conversation, we feel less burdened and relieved from inner tension that we鈥檝e been carrying,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he burdens of anxiety and fear we cannot bear alone can be carried by all of us.鈥�
In times of crisis, Kline says people seek wisdom found in their cultural, spiritual, and religious traditions. He says people often rely on their faith and spirituality to confront challenges like COVID-19, which presents unprecedented uncertainty.聽
鈥淭he universal search is for hope in a time of despair,鈥� says Kline, who integrates the principles of spirituality into his social work. 鈥淭hese traditions offer ways of understanding what is incomprehensible in the moment and a pathway to a reservoir of hope that sustains us in these catastrophic crises.鈥�