Obsession problems with COVID-19: how they arise and how to manage them

Our way of thinking, feeling and interpreting reality is not something that depends solely on us. As much as each person is unique, mental processes are never totally individual phenomena, and they are constantly relating to the context around us.

Precisely this idea has been evidenced by the coronavirus crisis. This global pandemic has not only had economic, political and medical implications, but also It has led to changes in terms of the psychological on a massive level, including the field of health mental. Among them is a greater vulnerability to problems due to obsessive thoughts, associated with the anxiety produced by the COVID-19 crisis.

• Related article: "The 7 types of anxiety (characteristics, causes and symptoms)"

What are obsessive thoughts?

Obsessive thoughts are mental contents (either in the form of sensory representations or structured ideas through language, and often both at the same time) that they tend to "invade" over and over the consciousness of people, making them unable to avoid focusing their attention on them. It is relatively frequent that these thoughts end up producing discomfort, either due to their burden emotional (for example, if they are distressing memories) or by the mere fact that they are repeated over and over again.

A clear case of how obsessive thoughts can damage people's mental health is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, a psychopathology in which the person struggles to "remove" these images of the mind from him through the performance of ritual behaviors, such as washing hands.

As is natural, the context in which you are having a lot of influence on how easily people fall into obsessive thoughts. In a situation of constant stress, it is very likely that a large number of individuals develop this class of psychological alterations, and therefore, a pandemic such as the coronavirus also gives rise to this. These are mainly anxiety problems, generated by the activation of the nervous system that occurs when focusing our attention on these recurring thoughts.

The main obsession problems in a pandemic context

Here are some of the main forms that obsessive thinking can take in the COVID-19 crisis.

1. Fear of contagion

It is one of the most common causes of obsessive thoughts in pandemic contexts. In these situations, it is not necessary to tend towards hypochondria to be afraid of getting sick, of transmitting the pathogen to loved ones, etc. In addition, when leaving home there are many interactions with the outside that technically lend themselves to the doubt of whether there is danger: when traveling in a crowded bus, when using the office bathroom, etc.

2. Exposure to the suffering of others

The situations of loss of loved ones, seeing the elderly get sick ... They are experiences capable of leaving a powerful emotional mark that is transformed into recurring memories.

3. Fear of losing your job

Economic instability produces job insecurity, something that keeps many people on their toes and with a tendency to try to anticipate the worst possible scenario even at the cost of his own sanity.

4. Fear that society will collapse

This is a somewhat more abstract fear than the previous ones, and it has to do with obsessions about the end of welfare states as we know them. It is not difficult to imagine a dystopian future based on the changes we experience as we go through a period of pandemic.

• You may be interested in: "The 16 types of fear and their characteristics"

5. Fear of breaking the rules

Along with the measures to prevent the risk of contagion and economic adaptation to this challenge, new regulations appear which, if breached, can lead to severe penalties. For some people, the feeling of being able to unknowingly be breaking these rules produces a feeling of unease that translates into obsessions.

6. Anxiety about the feeling of vigilance

This is a source of obsessions associated with the previous one: in addition to applying new rules that have been limiting certain freedoms, many States also have begun to monitor more the activity of their citizens: controls at airports, reviews of economic activities, supervised quarantines, etc. In the medium and long term, this can cause a state of alert in many people.

Do you want to have professional psychological support?

As we have seen, emotional and behavioral problems arising from the context of the coronavirus crisis can lead to mental health problems that should not be neglected.

So, If you are looking for psychotherapy services, I invite you to contact me. I am a psychologist specialized in cognitive-behavioral therapy and I serve the adult population and adolescent, both in person in Castellón de la Plana and through the online modality by video call. Through this modality of intervention, it is possible to overcome the alterations associated with obsessive thoughts based on scientifically validated therapeutic techniques and strategies.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Avia, M.D.; Ruiz, M.A. (2005). Recommendations for the Treatment of Hypochondriac Patients. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 35 (3): pp. 301 - 313.
• Fallon, B.A.; Qureshi, A.I.; Laje, G.; Klein, B. (2000). Hypochondriasis and its relationship to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 23 (3): pp. 605 - 616.
• Santos, J.L.; García, L.I.; Calderón, M.A.; Sanz, L.J.; de los Ríos, P.; Izquierdo, S.; Roman, P.; Hernangómez, L.; Navas, E.; Ladrón, A and Álvarez-Cienfuegos, L. (2012). Clinical psychology. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 02. CEDE. Madrid.