How to calm yourself and others in the face of the coronavirus threat

In the state of alarm about the coronavirus, it is important not to spread fear.

Whether you are a parent, a co-worker, a roommate, a teacher or not, we all transmit our emotional states to others, we all transmit our emotional states through non-verbal language, expressiveness, mood or language.

Collective panic or constant concern and alarm, both about health both for health and for the impact on the family, local or national economy; it generates a collective anguish that especially floods children who cannot even understand the danger.

The youngest may be the least vulnerable to the health impact of the coronavirus, but they are the most in need of a safe environment to keep them calm.

How to take care of oneself psychologically and how to care for others in the face of the coronavirus.

The care system is activated and developed through the behaviors that precisely the prevention measures limit, such as contact, closeness, touching, caressing, kissing...

We are overexposed to an enormous amount of information, in the face of which we become experts on the subject or we become experts on the subject or are overwhelmed by data indigestion or fall into obsessive rituals of control.. So making responsible use of both medical and psychological guidelines for the measures that are coming into our hands is fundamental.

We can start by observing our body's response, how thoughts are triggered, and try to connect with the breath.

A small exercise to calm down in the face of a collective threat.

Look around you, if you have children in your care or elderly people, your fears reach them through psychological contagion without words. Do not read on, just breathe, imagine how when you expel the air your fears and alarms are reduced, they vanish like smoke from a match.

Now, smile, smile at your inner self, smile at that emotional capacity to calm down and relax, smile also and accept with warmth the fear you have experienced. Then turn to your children or to the older people in your care, smile at them too, also accept the fear they have experienced without being aware of it, speak to them gently, smile at them with your eyes, address them with delicate and careful words, do not be afraid to put words to their fears and yours.

To the extent that we express, we tame our innermost fears, and in this way we favor our own.and in this way we favor our calmness and that of others.

Realizing the alarm that goes off every time we look for signs of calm and do not find it helps us to appreciate how important it is that we do not become alarm triggers ourselves. that we ourselves do not become triggers of alarm, of danger, in order to help us all keep calm.It is important that we do not become triggers of danger to help keep everyone's spirits calm.

Other tips to maintain control

Shared acts such as group gatherings on balconies and windows allow us to keep contact alive in isolation, share the joy of togetherness and generate a shared state of joy.

If we have to rescue something from this experience it is how we are actualizing and priming our social mind-body, which extends beyond ourselves and links us in the distance. and links us in the distance.

Shared resources, shared humor, shared states, even if a distance of one meter prevails, we share our states.

As a psychologist, my personal and professional challenge, at this time, is to help us realize how emotions, thoughts and responses transcend beyond oneself. Vitaliza, as a health center, is sensitive to the need for close human support.. Those who are lonely or overwhelmed or who want to continue with the support received so far, have the opportunity to find in Vitaliza their doors open online.

Author: Cristina Cortes, Psychologist, psychotherapist and Director of VITALIZA.