Coping with COVID Anxiety Participants

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Evidence: Quantification of Media Contact: “The analysis revealed a statistically significant moderation effect for the quantification of media contact (numeric vs. subjective vs. binary) only, which accounted for 19% of the observed heterogeneity.” (p. 175)

Reference: Pfefferbaum, B., Nitiéma, P., & Newman, E. (2019). Is Viewing Mass Trauma Television Coverage Associated With Trauma Reactions in Adults and Youth? A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 32(2), 175–185. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22391 Strategies: Take Time off

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 4 Image Source: http://theaposition.com/robertfagan/wp- content/uploads/sites/33/2014/08/action.jpg Evidence: • Beyond the physical threat of a pandemic, a significant psychological toll may occur for certain individuals. • Anxiety regarding H1N1 is heightened amongst those who cannot tolerate uncertainty. • Appraisals of threat, control, and the use of emotion-focused coping mediate the above relationship.

Reference Taha, S., Matheson, K., Cronin, T., & Anisman, H. (2014). Intolerance of uncertainty, appraisals, coping, and anxiety: The case of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. British Journal of Health Psychology, 19(3), 592–605. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12058

Evidence: The threat of terrorism and biological warfare is likely to increase the instances of mass hysteria. A holistic approach of collection of public sectors performing a range of preventative activities will be required to contain future mass psychogenic reactions.

Evidence: "Statistical literacy is a necessary precondition for an educated citizenship in a technological democracy. Understanding risks and asking critical questions can also shape the emotional climate in a society so that hopes and anxieties are no longer as easily manipulated from outside and citizens can develop a better-informed and more re-laxed attitude toward their health.” (Page. 171)

Reference: Gigerenzer G, Gaissmaier W, Kurz-Milcke E et al (2007) Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychological Science in Public Interest 8:53–96

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Purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim that organizes and stimulates goals, manages behaviors, and provides a sense of meaning

A sense of purpose buffers against hopelessness and uncontrollability

Stilman & Baumeister’s four reasons: 1.Find a purpose in life, have goals, 2.A sense of efficacy or control 3.Legitimizes or justify actions 4.Congregate or sense of community

Purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim that organizes and stimulates goals, manages behaviors, and provides a sense of meaning A sense of purpose buffers against hopelessness and uncontrollability References:

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 6 Stillman, T. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (2009). Uncertainty, belongingness, and four needs for meaning. Psychological Inquiry, 20, 249–251. Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new Positive Psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press. Seligman, M. E. P. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Simon & Schuster. Wong, P., Liamputtong, P., Koch, S., & Rawson, H. (2019). Searching for meaning: A grounded theory of family resilience in adult. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(5–6), 781–791.

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Evidence: Tapping into our character strengths—the main ingredients of our character--can help us mitigate unwarranted or excessive fear, anxiety and ambivalence. Moreover, character strengths, not our weakness, are more likely to enhances our psychological immunity through protective and pragmatic habits and actions.

Strengths are personality traits which form the core of what makes us human. Our essence as being human is in our hope, courage, curiosity, kindness, love, and zest not our anxiety, worries, ambivalence, anger and sadness. Because strengths are our core part of our existence. Instead of taking them for granted, strengths can be utilized to deal with challenges adaptively, including calamities and disasters of global proportion. For example, by using and enhancing prudence and self-regulation, we can manage our anxiety and worry. Furthermore, applying our strengths helps us to reframe and reappraise challenges, and provides us with a steady dose of well-being to build positive coping mechanisms. thus building our psychological immunity.

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 7 Research, informed by positive psychology concepts(Southwick, Satodiya & Pietrzak, 2016 shows that tapping onto our strengths, has helped us to tackle tough challenges (Niemiec & Mcgrath, 2019)

Niemiec, R. M. (2018). Character strengths interventions: A field-guide for practitioners. Boston: Hogrefe. Rashid, T. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2018). Positive Psychotherapy: Workbook. New York: Oxford. Southwick, S. M., Satodiya, R., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2016). Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology: An Afterward to the Special Issue. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 72(12), 1364–1368. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22418

References: Rashid, T & Seligman, M. E. P. (2018). Positive Psychotherapy: Workbook. New York. Oxford Niemiec, R. M., & McGrath, R. E. (2019). The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality. VIA Institute on Character. Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press and Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

7 © Tayyab Rashid, 2020 8 Images: Courtesy: NZWR They are at: https://news.aut.ac.nz/news/christchurch

Benefits of Gratitude as summarized in The How of happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky, (2008): Penguin Press. (Pp. 92-95)

Savouring: Grateful thinking promotes the savouring of positive life experience. One is able to extract maximum possible satisfaction and enjoyment from life. Self-worth: Expressing gratitude bolsters self-worth and self-esteem. You realize how much you and others have accomplished which in turn makes you more confident and efficacious. Thus, gratitude can help in unlearning habits like self-pity or feeling victimized

References Davis, D. E., Choe, E., Meyers, J., Wade, N., Varjas, K., Gifford, A., . . . Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2016). Thankful for the little things: A meta-analysis of gratitude interventions. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 20-31.

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 12 Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Gillett, R., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008). The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 854-871.

Jasmine, M. Y. L., Jung-Shun Tsai, Raylu, N., & Tian, P. S. O. (2014). Gratitude, hope, mindfulness and personal-growth initiative: Buffers or risk factors for problem gambling? PLoS One, 9(2), e83889.

12 References: Enright, R., & Fitzgibbons, R. (2015). Forgiveness therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Harris, A. H. S., Luskin, F., Norman, S. B., Standard, S., Bruning, J., Evans, S., & Thoresen, C. E. (2006). Effects of a group forgiveness intervention on forgiveness, perceived stress, and trait-anger. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, 715–33.

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© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 13 References: Ling, J., Robbins, L. B., Zhang, N., Kerver, J. M., Lyons, H., Wieber, N., & Zhang, M. (2018). Using facebook in a healthy lifestyle intervention: Feasibility and preliminary efficacy. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 40(12), 1818-1842.

Riesmeyer, C., Hauswald, J., & Mergen, M. (2019). (Un)healthy behavior? the relationship between media literacy, nutritional behavior, and self-representation on instagram. Media and Communication, 7(2), 160-168.

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 14 Negativity Bias Evidence: Things of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature (e.g. unpleasant thoughts, emotions, or social interactions; harmful/traumatic events) have a greater effect psychological impact than neutral or positive Negative information sticks longer in her minds and may keep us struck, then neutral and positive. Also pay attention to heroic sense of duty and resilience to those on the front lines

References: Corns, J. (2018). Rethinking the Negativity Bias. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-018-0382-7 Rozin, P., and E.B. Royzman. 2001. Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review 5 (4): 296–320.

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Posttraumatic Growth (PTG):

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 15 Research also shows that people experiencing PTG: Develop a renewed belief in their abilities to endure and prevail. Achieve improved relationships—in particular, discovering who their true friends are and who they can really count on. Some relationships pass the test, while others fail. Feel more comfortable with intimacy and have a greater sense of compassion for others who suffer. Develop a deeper, more sophisticated, and more satisfying philosophy of life.

Without minimizing or dismissing traumatic symptoms and stress, focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses is a basic principle of recovery, however for people who have experienced trauma this can be very difficult and part of what is wounded in the trauma. Due to negativity bias, individuals may perceive them as victims or weak due to adversity, trauma and setbacks. Beginning to see yourself from a strengths-based vantage is part of the process toward healing and growth. Shifting the trauma from exclusively from deficits and weaknesses and moving towards growth and recovery and growth.

EVIDENCE PTG Prevalence Rate: Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is positive psychological changes after encountering challenging events. PTG can buffer the negative effects caused by distress and depression. The prevalence of moderate-to-high PTG in people who experienced suffering traumatic events was 52.58%.

Reference: Wu, X., Kaminga, A. C., Dai, W., Deng, J., Wang, Z., Pan, X., & Liu, A. (2019). The prevalence of moderate-to-high posttraumatic growth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 243, 408–415.

Conclusion of the Paper: Twenty-six articles were deemed as qualified for this systematic review and meta-analysis. The level of PTG across studies ranged from 10% to 77.3%. Nearly half of the investigated individuals reported moderate-to-high PTG after experiencing a traumatic event (page. 409 & 414)

Additional Meta-analytical Studies Supporting PTG Evidence: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibited a medium to large effect size (page 230)

Reference: Roepke, A. M. (2015). Psychosocial interventions and posttraumatic growth: A meta- analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(1), 129-142.

15 Elucidating the mediating processes that explain why an intervention for secondary trauma works is essential in order to develop more effective support systems that promote improved mental health outcomes among health and human services professionals. Prevention programs for workers exposed indirectly to traumatic events may target self-efficacy enhancement and education. (page. 2)

References: Cieslak, R., Benight, C. C., Rogala, A., Smoktunowicz, E., Kowalska, M., Zukowska, K., … Luszczynska, A. (2016). Effects of Internet-Based Self-Efficacy Intervention on Secondary Traumatic Stress and Secondary Posttraumatic Growth among Health and Human Services Professionals Exposed to Indirect Trauma. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01009. Pavlacic, J. M., Buchanan, E. M., Maxwell, N. P., Hopke, T. G., & Schulenberg, S. E. (2019). A meta-analysis of expressive writing on posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic growth, and quality of life. Review of General Psychology, 23(2), 230-250.

15 © Tayyab Rashid, 2020 Image Source: https://claudiasmithwellbeing.com/wp- content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/Character-Strength-Word-Infographic- o7ww3pim7kfp7055xd6e8p5lqs9tt16e364j0tq9nc.jpg

Research, informed by positive psychology concepts (Southwick, Satodiya & Pietrzak, 2016 shows that tapping onto our strengths, has helped us to tackle tough challenges (Niemiec, 2018; Niemiec & Mcgrath, 2019)

Niemiec, R. M. (2018). Character strengths interventions: A field-guide for

© Tayyab Rashid, 2020 17 practitioners. Boston: Hogrefe. Rashid, T. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2018). Positive Psychotherapy: Workbook. New York: Oxford. Southwick, S. M., Satodiya, R., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2016). Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology: An Afterward to the Special Issue. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 72(12), 1364–1368. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22418