قاسم حسين صالح
(Qassim Hussein Salih)
الحوار المتمدن-العدد: 6526 - 2020 / 3 / 30 - 20:41
المحور:
المجتمع المدني
مقالنا الثاني باللغة الأنجليزية ليكون للعقل العراقي حضور عالمي.
المقال يقدم تطبيقات وكيفية التعامل مع فوبيا كورونا بعد ان تناول الأول تنظيرا لها.
Coronavirus Phobia (2/2)
Pro. Dr. Qassim Hussain Salih
Founder and President of Iraqi Psychology Association
Notice (2)
The new Coronavirus (Covid-19) spread a phobia that infected thousands of people around the world, and this phobia has increased rapidly with the spreading speed of the virus after Italy outpaced China in the number of infections and the death of more than 800 people in one day! And France ranked the fourth position in the total number of infections and declared that the situation is (extremely worrying), while the virus is keeping invading fifty states in the United States of America, and scientists are urging the British government that Corona would kill a quarter of a million British citizens if it did not change their health controls and measures.
The statement of European countries that the medical supplies are near depletion, and the number of confirmed infectious cases reached more than (511,600) people, with total fatalities of more than (23,500) until (March 26st, 2020), accompanied by a social media and TV channels mania on an unprecedented professional horror industry worldwide.
Advancing from our responsibility to our community and our role in spreading the psychological and social culture of facing the Corona pandemic, we continue in these two episodes our series of articles to educate people about the importance of the individual s mental health in pandemic crises.
The first episode included a summary of the phobia theories that provided cultural knowledge about it, while this second episode consists of a specific application of methods of dealing with a cunning and malicious virus.
Pandemic Phobia
The general definition of (phobia) is: "Excessive´-or-extreme fear of a subject´-or-situation that is considered normal´-or-common by others, which the person with a phobia cannot control although he knows that his fear is inappropriate."
However, the pandemic phobia is different, and accordingly, we propose the following definition: "It is excessive anxiety accompanied by the anticipation of unknown harm accompanied by horrific scenes of his death´-or-his loved one, caused by the state s inability to control the cause of the pandemic, and multiple sources of infection."
Globally, the most prominent manifestations of this phobia were noticed on:
1- Panic buying and stockpiling of food, sterilizers, and toilet papers,
2- Hygiene mania,
3- Consistent follow-up of the pandemic news,
4- The inability to at night and frequent nightmares,
5- Computer phobia, by not approaching any computer,
6- Moving away from the workplace,
7- Fear of washing the face and sensitive areas in the body,
8-The marital phobia (fear of having sex),
9- The phobia of intense pain when touching another person,
10- The phobia of overeating,
11- The phobia of talking on the phone!
Sources of Coronavirus Phobia
We followed up and are still following the sources responsible for increasing the coronavirus phobia, and we found that two sources determine it:
1. Social Knowledge and Health Awareness
The pattern of societal culture plays an active role in strengthening´-or-weakening the human immune system. To illustrate this, let us take the Canadian and Iraqi societies. In Canada, a healthy societal culture pattern is typical, as Canadians are already accustomed to clean the street, while a developmentally disabled model of societal culture is common in Iraq.
Health awareness also plays an active role in explaining the cause of the pandemic. The Canadian and German community deals with the pandemic in a scientific manner, while the Iraqi society is dealing with the pandemic based on myth, carelessness, occultism, and the spread of a belief (say, Nothing will come upon us except what Allah has decreed for us) and ignore His glory say (Do not throw yourself into the doom, and you know).
One of the most apparent manifestations of undeveloped societal knowledge and health awareness in Iraq is the saying of a cleric to the visiting public inside the shrine of Imam Al-Kadhim, that this place is a self-antiseptic that the germs do not enter and the public belief of his claims. Another example, on March 21st, thousands of visitors from Baghdad/ Risafa district decided to visit Imam Al-Kadhim shrine the government was desperate to stop them however, the religious authority saved the public from an eminent disaster when they instructed the public one day before the visit not to do that.
Which means that a society armed with institutions´-or-entities with social influence regards the pandemic is caused by an earthly-biological force, in which the phobia is less prevalence compared to its counterpart in another society that they look at first it is a heavenly power, judgment, fate´-or-divine wisdom, and when it becomes more widespread and out of control, then the cases of phobia increase in a --dir--ect relationship.
2. The government s relationship with the public
The government is a significant cause of the spread´-or-reduction of the pandemic. In Canada, for example, the government dealt transparently and credibly with the public and took measures to reduce the citizen s fear and anxiety about the future. However, the Iraqi citizen s relationship with its government is negative, resulting from a crisis of confidence that gives rise to fear and the expectation of a catastrophe. And such a relationship leads to a decrease in cases of phobia in Canada and a rise in Iraq. In addition to what the economic factor will do, China, for example, has an economic power that reassures the citizen. At the same time, corruption in Iraq and the collapse of oil prices increase the cases of phobia among Iraqis.
The psychological factor here is that the positive relationship between the citizen and the government leads to-limit-ing the spread of the pandemic and fear, while the negative one leads to the opposite.
How to deal with a coronavirus phobia
Now, we have two realities. The first one is that the world after the Coronavirus pandemic will be different from the world before it, and the second reality is that the immune system is the only response we have now to deal with this virus. This means that the lymphatic system, glands, and leukocytes, are the only ones that can discover and eliminate any virus, infection´-or-foreign body that invades the human body.
Two factors affect the strength´-or-weakness of our immune system. The first is the type of consumed food, especially fruits, vegetables and vitamins, and the second is the psychological immune system (mental, emotional, and behavioral), as the most influential in mental disorders.
Scientific studies confirm that fear, tension and excessive anxiety lead to the secretion of hormones that confuse´-or-weaken the work of the immune system and allow the virus to defeat it. However, enjoy a mental and psychological calm, rest and laughter lead to the production of hormones that strengthen the immune system and eliminate it within a maximum period of fourteen days.
To defeat Coronavirus phobia, we recommend the following practices:
• Stop switching through satellite channels, the internet, and social media to follow the virus news and only watch one´-or-two sources, and for-limit-ed and distanced periods.
• Spread a culture of health awareness within the family by adopting scientific resources only and avoiding superstitious and metaphysical thinking.
• Try to watch movies, episodes, plays´-or-listen to music and songs.
• Communicate with your friends and loved ones online and revive feelings and conversations that you previously shared.
• In the case of an inconvenient and disturbing Corona phobia for the individual and family, a psychiatrist who specializes in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) should be consulted.
And always remember, that excessive fear and anxiety accompanied by the anticipation of harm leads to a disruption of hormones that weakens your immune system, which is the only weapon you have now in the face of a malicious and cunning virus.
26-3-2020
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