how are did you feel? can you identify reactions you have at the outset of covid 19?
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how are did you feel? can you identify reactions you have at the outset of covid 19?
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Answer:
Understanding & Coping with Reactions in a Pandemic
Developed by the Childhood Violent Trauma Center
at the Yale Child Study Center
We are living through a time of fear and disruption of daily life that most of us have
never experienced. When we are facing threats to our health, our safety, and financial
security, and also dealing with the impact of social isolation and a massive disruption of
normal routines of daily life, our minds and bodies respond in powerful ways.
When so much in our current external world is out of our control, it is especially
important to find ways to better manage responses to the danger and fear we may be
experiencing. We can begin to take greater control of our own distress/anxiety--and help
those we care about — when we learn to recognize and understand what is actually
occurring in our minds and bodies when we are afraid. When we can observe and
understand our own versions of the shared human experience of fear and uncertainty,
we are better able to make choices that can turn down the volume of our distress and
increase our feelings of well-being.
Under normal circumstances there is regular
communication between two important parts of our brain:
the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala. The pre-frontal
cortex helps us organize information, think in an organized
way and make decisions about our actions. The amygdala
is the emotion center of the brain and plays a central role
in responding to fear and threat by triggering the fight-flight
response.
However, when we feel threatened, or when there are
major disruptions to the ways we live, the communication
between the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala is
disrupted. At these times, our brains literally may not work
the same way. The production of stress hormones and
neurotransmitters may become amplified and lead to
symptoms of anxiety/distress that we experience in our
bodies as well as our minds.
Higher levels of physical reactions to distress can interfere with our ability to think in
clear, organized ways that ordinarily help us to feel calm. As a result, we may be caught
up in repetitive, vicious cycles of distressing thoughts and distressing physical reactions
that magnify our sense of loss of control and helplessness. When this happens, not only
does the world around us seem out of control, but our own reactions feel out of control
as well.
When we no longer feel in control and in charge of ourselves, on top of our limited
control of the world around us, we become more prone to changes in mood. These
changes in mood contribute to our suffering and to the accumulating experience of
helplessness and loss of control.
In normal times, we are
able to find ways to
order our thinking in
efforts to calm our
feelings of distress. For
example, we may make
lists of the things we
need to do, or we may
try to think through and
identify current reasons
for our distress or
distract ourselves from
troubling thoughts---all
in an attempt to turn
down the volume on
uncomfortable feelings.