Fear and Anxiety

A doe or buck responds to danger with either a fight, a flight or by freezing. Humans, on the other hand with more advanced brain evolution, respond to danger with fear and/or anxiety. Both conditions are the result of an overpowering danger, powerlessness, defenselessness and inability to combat it. With the case of fear, the danger, comes from an outside threat, is reality based and accompanied with the feeling of helplessness that has been previously conditioned. Now with anxiety, the danger is generated, and /or magnified by intrapsychic factors in which the helplessness has been conditioned by one’s own attitude. With both fear and/or anxiety, the physiological sensations exhibited can be trembling, perspiration, or rapid heartbeat. Moreover, death can also be a consequence of fear. A fear response or experience can be objective like with the Covid-19 pandemic especially if you are 65 or over, have a respiratory illness, are mentally or physically disabled, or have an impaired immune system.  In the case of anxiety, it differs from fear in that it is subjective and hidden underneath some intrapsychic conflict. Moreover, anxiety can exist even without knowing it. This brief essay pertains to a fear and anxiety response to Covid-19.

Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest quarterback ever, is a good example of a person experiencing anxiety and may not even be aware of it. It’s clear that Tom Brady is highly competitive and wants to play as a first string quarterback at young age of 42 and rapidly approaching age 43. Recently, Brady signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Bucs for $30 million. For an oversimplification regarding Brady’s intrapsychic dynamics, let’s postulate using his competitive nature accompanied by his dread or fear of failure. For Brady, his fear of failure easily goes back to adolescence. For example, he began his high school years, as quarterback, sitting on the bench. At one time, he started out as the 6th string quarterback for the University of Michigan. After graduating from the Michigan Wolverines, Tom was in the NFL draft. He was selected by the Patriots near the end of the draft selection. Initially, Tom, at first, sat on the bench.  This player had to demonstrate and prove that he could compete at the next level. What followed was historic. Once again, Brady had to prove to himself and now coach Arians .He had to avoid failure all over again. Again, he has to prove to Patriot Coach Belichick that he can still play at this high level. Brady is not physically gifted by any means. However, his dietary, physical and psychological regime, early bed time and football drills are legendary suggesting he employs an excessive amount of discipline required to compensate for his dreaded fear of failing.  With this being said, for Brady, the possibility of contracting Covid-19 is anxiety producing. This virus could interfere with him playing quarterback by negatively affecting his readiness and body conditioning and thus interfering with his career. Being concerned about one’s body, a 10th century BC Chinese saying comes to mind “To Manifest the Way, First Keep Your Body Safe.”

Would Tom Brady, if tested positive for Covid-19, be fearful or anxious about losing about $30 million this coming year? Probably not, as his wife has been reported to earn more than him. Would Tom Brady, if tested positive for Covid-19, be fearful or anxious about not having a doctor to treat him; not having a respiration device available to him; or not having a hospital bed for him? Probably not, as the Tampa Bay Bucs and the NFL have the finest medical health availability in our country. The Bucs are going to protect their investment. These athletes have to be given the latest medical knowledge and technology because of their income value that they generate to their teams. Are the other 99+ % of the US population as fortunate as an NFL superstar? Of course, not as fear and anxiety are now staples for the rest in our country.

We humans, often go to any length to escape anxiety and/or to avoid feeling it like in Covid-19. There are number reasons for not wanting to experience anxiety. First, with anxiety an individual perceives danger and feel helpless with a loss of power/control in dealing with the threat. With Covid-19, in addition to being without treatment, does being 6 feet away from another guarantee that one does not contract the virus? No!  In fact, one could contract the virus and not even know it. A second element of anxiety might be the apparent irrationality of contracting Covid-19. For instance, one could become contagious in a nursing home or even while going to a hospital for testing or treatment. A hospital, at the moment, is the last place that I want to be near. Linda, for this reason, is postponing her cataract treatment consultation. Stay away from the hospital as you might contract the virus there. A third reason related to this irrationality suggests that we might have to overcome or even change our behavior by challenging our delusion that we are really doing everything we can to protect our self from this disease. Linda, for example, was wearing gloves while cleaning and disinfecting the kitchen. Then I saw her put her gloved hand in a bag of food for a snack to eat.

There are generally four ways we, with higher developed brains, use to escape from our anxiety. With intelligence, we have perfected defense mechanisms like denial. Some deny the existence of the virus by excluding it from consciousness. Witnessing, from TV, the young at a Florida beach during spring vacation milling around is a good example. I’ve had people tell me that they’re not infected. I asked them if they been tested and they replied no? They might even reply with” I have no symptoms. It’s a hoax. “Are you a carrier? Some, even make a conscious decision to overcome their anxiety by putting themselves in situations where they could contract the virus. Interacting with others while going to work, train or even frequent visits to stores are examples. Even though one may exclude anxiety from consciousness, a physical  concomitant could be shivering, sweating, accelerated heartbeat, choking, frequent urge  to urinate, diarrhea, or vomiting  .On the mental side would be a feeling of restlessness, being rushed, bored  or  paralyzed.

Another defense mechanism employed to escape anxiety is rationalization which consists of turning anxiety into rational fear which is simply the evasion of responsibility. This is like arguing with an individual and suggesting that they are not taking the best precaution of protecting self and others from Covid-19. The individual will mobilize and generate and put a tremendous amount of intellectual energy in proving you wrong. It might be like” I don’t have pneumonia symptoms; my immune  numbers are good; I’m wearing a mask and gloves; I’m working in a good and safe environment;  or I’m staying 6 feet away from people at all times.” With these responses or responses like these, individuals can feel rational and justified in their behavior. And they have the delusion that they are able to realistically see or understand the motivations for their irrational behavior. Defense mechanisms do not protect from this virus.

A third way of finding some release from anxiety is to ingest alcohol or drugs. One can also engage in social activities and/or become extremely busy. Our psychological needs to affiliate and have sex is a real challenge when it comes to telling the community to hunker down and isolate from others. When anxious, we often want to be around and associate with another human as well as engaging in sexual activities. So avoiding others, can be really conflictual and actually produce more anxiety from the isolation because of our primary need to affiliate.

It’s also difficult to avoid thinking and hearing about Covid-19. If we watch or listen to news on the TV or radio we are given numerous updates regarding this deadly virus. It’s important to seek out credible and reliable sources of information and use reason to filter the good data and updates from the bad. Listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Going to Mars to escape the virus doesn’t help, since we take our fearful and anxiety driven mind with us. Our mind is who we are.

In conclusion, any individual in our country not experiencing fear and/or anxiety about Covid-19 is either unaware or lying. If you experience fear and anxiety you are normal. This deadly danger is real and affects all individuals, male-female, young-old, different colors of one’s skin, all religions, where you reside, and all socioeconomic groups. It doesn’t matter if your movie star, in Congress, medical doctor, a head of state, a super star athlete or even Jeff Bezos. This virus does not have boundaries and has affected too many of us. Stay safe.