Psychology of fear
No human being can say that he is totally fearless. Fear, anxiety, phobia, anybody can suffer from one or the other ailments; from common well-known arachnophobia to exotic ombrophobic manifestations (fear of rain). The intensity of the reaction distinguishes simple fear from phobia. Regardless of the element causing the fear/ phobia, trivialities, the physical manifestation are as debilitating. Some anxiety arising from fears phobias can be so debilitating, serious, and constant that a psychiatrist intervention is required to get control of it. When the patient presents itself to a psychiatrist with some very rare phobia, the doctor will give it the same care and treat it with the same seriousness as any other phobia. For the patient it is as real.
In the last 14 months, the crisis initiated by the presence of SARS-Cov2 infectious diseases in the global population gave birth to many fears, phobias, causing a great deal of anxiety to many. Simple concerns or fears evolve into full fledged phobia due to the length of the crisis and the constant exposure to the object of the fear by the media. Concerns of getting infected by going to the hospital gradually evolved into fear of hospitals, and for some into hospital phobia. Simple fear of germ became full fledged germaphobia. Many became hypochondriac when any symptoms of illness appeared on them or their children. Like we previously saw, fear hinders our judgment and our logical thinking.
UNDERSTANDING CORONAPHOBIA
2.1. Comparing coronaphobia with other phobias
To understand the spectrum of pathology where coronaphobia belongs, we present a comparative analysis with three other phobias as laid down in DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) (Table 1 ). We observe fear of specific stimuli in all kinds of phobia, accompanying triggered physiological responses, cognitions of lack of control, helplessness, and/or death. Phobias share pattern of behavioral avoidance and reassurance which is beyond realistic proportions. While coronaphobia shares similarities with the other phobias, the fear in it is not only limited to public places/situations/objects, but, primarily coming in contact with humans, physically. Given the novelty and transmission rate of the COVID-19, the coronaphobia is intense, widespread, and involves sociooccupational and personal domains, with apprehensions ranging beyond the self and the present time. It might be perceived as an equivalent entity in syndromes of phobia, given the presence of unique triggers and fear of the unknown.
- Table 1
A comparative analysis of phobias in DSM-5 with coronaphobia.
| Domains | Agoraphobia | Social phobia | Specific phobia | Coronaphobia (as proposed) |
| Feared stimuli | Places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness or embarrassment. | Social situations where individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others | Fear about a specific object or situation (e.g. flying, heights, animals, etc.) | Fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 and/or dying of it and socio-personal-occupational loss |
| Physiological response | Rapid heart rate, excessive sweating, trouble breathing, tingling | Rapid heart rate, trouble breathing, sweating, trembling, dry mouth, stumbling speech | Palpitations, sweating, trembling, trouble breathing, dry mouth | Rapid heart rate, trouble breathing, sweating, sleep disturbances/ deprivation |
| Cognition | If I go there, I am going to be completely unable to breathe and die! | I am looking like a fool, people will think I am stupid! | The snake is venomous, it will kill me! | If I get coronavirus disease, I will die, lose job, infect others! |
| Behavioral manifestations | Active avoidance of situations where a person fears getting a panic attack, or embarrassing symptoms; seeking reassurance of a support. | Active avoidance of social situations; failing to speak to people; clinging to support (in children). | Active avoidance of object or situation; freezing behavior; clinging to support (in children) | Active avoidance of public places, transportation, objects and/or people; reassurance of not having illness; safety seeking behavior to prevent infection. |
| Intensity of fear | Out of realistic proportion | Out of realistic proportion | Out of realistic proportion | Out of realistic proportion |
- 2.2. Risk factors of coronaphobia
Traumatic events can lead to specific phobias (Garcia, 2017). With 377,889 casualties, and 6,389,493 confirmed cases in 213 countries and territories (Worldometer, 2020a), and global socioeconomic and political consequences, the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic event of greater proportions than previous disease
Ref: Understanding Coronaphobia Alisha Arora,a Amrit Kumar Jha,b,c Priya Alat,d and Sitanshu Sekhar Dasd,*
FEAR IS FEAR
People suffering of Coronaphobia are hungry for any solution to release their pain. They will buy into anything without second thought.
Although the different fears are treated with respect and concern as it should be, one specific fear is treated way different; the fear of being injected with the new generation of emergency approved cov-vaccines (EACV).
We are observing a catering to coronaphobia and trivializing of the fear of EACV. Is it because most people worldwide fell into the fear of the former due to the constant fearmongering?
People have many reasons to be concerned with the effect of injecting an experimental vaccine candidate on their health. Unfortunately, this fear of the new generation of vaccine is treated as menace to society, as dangers to the greater good. They are portrayed by the media as ‘’ vaccine hesitant’’, ‘’ irresponsible’’, ‘’ Cov-idiot’’. Some ‘’doctors’’ are even threatening to withhold treatment if a not-cov-vacccinated patient present himself. What is most disheartening is call to prison sentence…
Perhaps the name-calling and dehumanizing of the not-cov-vaccinated is a symptom of hardcore coronaphobia. If so, coronaphobia needs to be tackled swiftly because many suffering from it hold power over other individuals. As history has shown time and time again, dehumanizing, demonizing the object of one’s fear can lead humanity to a bloody path.
Will you let your fear of dying impede your ability to live and let others live? Then it is very important to overcome this fear, as death is part of life.
Putting things in perspective is one way to tame fear. Otherwise, fear can lead us astray.
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