Mental Health specialists predict an increase in cases of agoraphobia and anxiety disorders due to fear of leaving home due to coronavirus. Although there are still no epidemiological studies on the matter, the truth is that psychologists are already beginning to detect an increase in consultations for anxiety problems derived from the pandemic, both due to the health effects and its economic and social impact. They assure that, although some people have needed emotional support during confinement -behavioral disorders, nightmares-, many are now demanding it, feeling more nervous and fearful with the return to "certain" normality. "Now that they have to go out, it is costing them a lot because that is when they really have the perception of danger. It is now when the symptoms of anxiety, agoraphobias and fears in general appear," says psychologist María del Carmen Rodríguez, professor of Psychology at the UOC.
For José Manuel Alemán, clinical psychologist, member of the College of Psychology of Las Palmas and professor of Psychopathology at the Fernando Pessoa University, it is necessary to distinguish between three groups. On the one hand, those people with a previous history of agoraphobia "who have handled confinement very well because they feel protected at home"; and those people who, also with a previous history of agoraphobic disorder, were progressing with treatment before the pandemic, going out little by little, facing their fears and that the health crisis has stopped this dynamic, which causes a "re-exacerbation" of the symptoms and a difficulty in starting again. In third place, he highlights those people who did not previously have symptoms of this type and now find it difficult to leave home due to fear of the virus. The expert gives the keys to differentiate agoraphobia from fear of contagion.
"The differentiation is subtle, because from the point of view of behavior the problem is the same, the person avoids going out on the street. In agoraphobia, the person has a need to flee, escape from certain places as a response to their own anxiety. They suffer intense anxiety and flee to a safe place, which may be their home or a companion who gives them security... While in this case the anxiety is linked to the possibility of becoming infected or infecting another. The monster that I try to avoid in one case is my own anxiety, and in the other a virus."
Alemán pointed out that among people who fear contagion, there are two aspects: fear of being infected by others, and concern about infecting others, especially older and vulnerable loved ones. "There is no epidemiological data, it is still early and the confinement is very recent, but we can anticipate that there will be a rebound in certain anxiety trends in health due to hypochondria or apprehension, related to the virus. This is due to the very logic of the situation, there is a lot of uncertainty about how all this is going to evolve, what are the safety behaviors, what are not... All that uncertainty is ultimately a breeding ground for a rebound." The specialist reiterates that, although an increase in consultations of this type is already perceived, it is not yet known if it will be epidemiologically significant. "I think it will be, for me it is obvious that this will go further but, I insist, it is my opinion."
Recommendations
So that the fear of going out on the street due to fear of contagion or infecting does not become a pathology, the psychologist advises starting a gradual exposure to face those fears and gradually recover the activities that he did before the pandemic. "The first thing is to analyze if one is affected to a limit that requires help from a mental health professional, if someone sees himself unable to take steps, he has to consult it," he warned.
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