Panic Sells, Calm Saves

Panic Sells, Calm Saves

Shane Owens, PhD

Shane Owens Phd

ADAA Member Shane Owens is an award-winning, board-certified behavioral and cognitive psychologist. Dr. Owens specializes in treating young adults and parents with anxiety problems, anger issues, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is the Assistant Director of Campus Mental Health Services at Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York.

Panic Sells, Calm Saves

Share
No
Shane Owens, coronavirus

Checking my email last night, I noticed that “coronavirus” appeared in the subject line of about 70% of the messages. It makes sense that the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News, and The Washington Post would be featuring stories, but Wired and The Atlantic and other newsletters have all caught COVID-19 fever. The media are turning this into a payday. I don’t begrudge them that. Panic sells. It’s good business.

The fever is spreading. Now 90% of my emails—including one from my employer—are about coronavirus. The homepage of the three major cable media outlets boast headlines like “New outbreak clusters spark alarm,” and “Trump gives ‘incoherent’ briefing on coronavirus, contradicts CDC.” It’s like we’ve taken one giant leap toward I Am Legend overnight. At least that’s what the media would like you to believe.

Surviving the outbreak of COVID-19 will require us to remain calm, not to succumb to panic, emotional reasoning, or other common cognitive mistakes. Knowing the facts and remembering what you’ve been taught about staying healthy will increase all our chances of staying well.

Three popular sources of information—traditional media, politicians, and social media—can give mixed messages about the true nature of coronavirus.

Since traditional media are supported by ad revenue, they are driven to sensationalize. While they supposedly rely on confirmed information from sources, we’ve all heard, “While we’ve not yet been able to confirm this, there are reports that …” We must also be aware that media outlets, to beat their competitors, occasionally engage in pure speculation.

Politicians are driven by elections, polls, and party. Especially in these politically divided times, hot-button issues like the coronavirus are easily co-opted by elected and appointed officials for their gain.

When it comes to information, social media is the untamed badlands. Even if people are quoting reliable sources, their comments often detract from the usefulness of the content. Also, the conflict and cognitive errors that occur on most popular social media platforms make them poor sources of good information.

To manage your anxiety about coronavirus, here’s what you should know:

  • Most people with the coronavirus have relatively mild symptoms.
  • Symptoms appear between two and 14 days from exposure to the virus and start much like the common cold.
  • Coronavirus is fatal in about two to three percent of cases.
  • To stay healthy, here’s what you should do:
  • Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds.
  • Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers as a substitute for washing your hands, but do so sparingly.
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes.
  • Frequently disinfect surfaces, like your desk, phone, tablet, smartphone, and countertops.
  • If you are sick, stay home.
  • Follow instructions from your kids’ schools on when to keep them home.
  • Have contingency plans for school or office closures, including childcare and working from home.
  • Be able to prepare meals at home without having to shop for several days.
  • Have emergency bags for everyone in your home. The American Red Cross and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have lists of what you should pack.
  • Limit your media exposure and trust sources that are not supported by advertisements or subscriptions. CDC.gov is a good resource.

If you need more information, call your doctor.

The safest way through the coronavirus and any other outbreak is staying healthy and well-informed.

Co-written by David Cennimo, MD, FACP, FAAP, FIDSA. Dr. Cennimo is currently practicing clinical infectious diseases and infection control while an Assistant Professor at Rutgers NJMS. He is a graduate of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School where he also trained in a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency, served as medicine chief resident, and then completed fellowships in both adult and pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Shane Owens, PhD

Shane Owens Phd

ADAA Member Shane Owens is an award-winning, board-certified behavioral and cognitive psychologist. Dr. Owens specializes in treating young adults and parents with anxiety problems, anger issues, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is the Assistant Director of Campus Mental Health Services at Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York.

ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy

ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy

ADAA provides this Website blogs for the benefit of its members and the public. The content, view and opinions published in Blogs written by our personnel or contributors – or from links or posts on the Website from other sources - belong solely to their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ADAA, its members, management or employees. Any comments or opinions expressed are those of their respective contributors only. Please remember that the open and real-time nature of the comments posted to these venues makes it is impossible for ADAA to confirm the validity of any content posted, and though we reserve the right to review and edit or delete any such comment, we do not guarantee that we will monitor or review it. As such, we are not responsible for any messages posted or the consequences of following any advice offered within such posts. If you find any posts in these posts/comments to be offensive, inaccurate or objectionable, please contact us via email at [email protected] and reference the relevant content. If we determine that removal of a post or posts is necessary, we will make reasonable efforts to do so in a timely manner.

ADAA expressly disclaims responsibility for and liabilities resulting from, any information or communications from and between users of ADAA’s blog post commenting features. Users acknowledge and agree that they may be individually liable for anything they communicate using ADAA’s blogs, including but not limited to defamatory, discriminatory, false or unauthorized information. Users are cautioned that they are responsible for complying with the requirements of applicable copyright and trademark laws and regulations. By submitting a response, comment or content, you agree that such submission is non-confidential for all purposes. Any submission to this Website will be deemed and remain the property of ADAA.

The ADAA blogs are forums for individuals to share their opinions, experiences and thoughts related to mental illness. ADAA wants to ensure the integrity of this service and therefore, use of this service is limited to participants who agree to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Refrain from transmitting any message, information, data, or text that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, that may be invasive of another 's privacy, hateful, or bashing communications - especially those aimed at gender, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious views or disability.

Please note that there is a review process whereby all comments posted to blog posts and webinars are reviewed by ADAA staff to determine appropriateness before comments are posted. ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit a post containing offensive material as defined by ADAA.

ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit posts that contain explicit, obscene, offensive, or vulgar language. Similarly, posts that contain any graphic files will be removed immediately upon notice.

2. Refrain from posting or transmitting any unsolicited, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain mail," "pyramid schemes" or any other form of solicitation. ADAA reserves the right to delete these posts immediately upon notice.

3. ADAA invites and encourages a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a participant 's post or opinion and wish to challenge it, do so with respect. The real objective of the ADAA blog post commenting function is to promote discussion and understanding, not to convince others that your opinion is "right." Name calling, insults, and personal attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. ADAA will remove these posts immediately upon notice.

4. ADAA promotes privacy and encourages participants to keep personal information such as address and telephone number from being posted. Similarly, do not ask for personal information from other participants. Any comments that ask for telephone, address, e-mail, surveys and research studies will not be approved for posting.

5. Participants should be aware that the opinions, beliefs and statements on blog posts do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of ADAA. Participants also agree that ADAA is not to be held liable for any loss or injury caused, in whole or in part, by sponsorship of blog post commenting. Participants also agree that ADAA reserves the right to report any suspicions of harm to self or others as evidenced by participant posts.

RESOURCES AND NEWS
Evidence-based Tips & Strategies from our Member Experts
RELATED ARTICLES
Block reference