Do you feel stressed or anxious because of Covid, inflation or the war in Ukraine? Midi Libre, gives you some advice to manage your anxiety.
The morale of the French has been weighed down for more than two years. On March 29, INSEE revealed in a study that fears linked to inflation had reached a record level. The indicator stood at 91 in March, down six points over one month and nearly ten points below its long-term average, set at 100. Household sentiment returned to unprecedented lows in March since November 2020, during the second confinement.
A pessimism largely fueled by fears linked to Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and inflation. In short, the French are afraid for their future and their wallet. But how to guard against it and have perspective on the situation? Marion Bourgey-Trouillet, psychologist at the Montpellier University Hospital, gives us some tips and explains why we react in this way.
How to manage your anxiety in the face of a distressing situation (war in Ukraine, inflation, Covid…)?
Certain strategies can help to manage anxiety in the face of distressing situations encountered. First of all, it is not relevant to listen to the information in a loop: reduce your time on the media, the networks. Nor is it necessary to multiply the sources of information. Anxiety can cause us to hyperventilate, breathing techniques are developed to learn how to relax, unwind. There are sites that have developed and applications such as “Petit BamBou” and “RespiRelax+”. When you are invaded by worrying thoughts, you can try to focus your attention on something else like. Listening to music or calling friends. You must clearly identify the moments where you take care of yourself: having a coffee with a friend, playing sports… It is also important to maintain social support and a social bond. either too big projects, doing activities where you feel good and where you feel a pleasant emotion, also makes you feel better.
What are the effects on our health?
When you are anxious, you may feel muscle tension, sleep disturbances, great fatigue, a drop in motivation. You may feel like you have a lump in your throat and a lump in your stomach. All of these symptoms can be signs of anxiety without any physical cause. But being stressed about a situation in itself is nothing to worry about. It’s an emotional state that allows you to adjust. It can be normal to feel anxiety during such periods, but what is complex is that the crises persist, are superimposed. We can therefore become exhausted in the face of this continuous stress.
Some people adopt a defense mechanism…
“Emotional avoidance” is implemented by some people so as not to experience unpleasant emotions experienced during stressful situations again. We regularly implement strategies to adjust to what we experience daily. When we are too emotionally overwhelmed, one of the strategies put in place can be to avoid all situations that require strong emotions.
