The new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic is raging, with large masks everywhere, and the epidemic on the screen and in the news, it is inevitable that people will be “panicked”. The science team from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been invited by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAS) to help you cope with the epidemic. Cognition: Look at the epidemic reasonably and prevent catastrophic thinking The rapid development of the Internet has made it easier for us to obtain epidemic prevention and medical information, but it has also made it easier for some anxiety-trafficking articles to enter our view. Negative articles tend to induce “catastrophic thinking,” which can create a sense of excessive anxiety and cause us to lose a reasonable perception of the situation. Catastrophic thinking often includes the words “what if ……”. For example, “What if the outbreak gets out of control?” “What if I get the virus?” “What if everyone around me is infected?” To reverse catastrophic thinking, we can take the following three steps: First, identify distorted thinking and convert the concern into an affirmative statement. For example, replace “What if the outbreak gets out of control?” to “I am concerned about the possibility of an outbreak getting out of control.” Second, question the validity of the distorted view. Try asking yourself questions like: What is the likelihood that what you are worried about will happen? Has there ever been an outbreak that got out of hand before? It is worth noting that the daily information during an epidemic contains more positive than negative information, and we need to determine whether our concerns are justified based on the facts. Third, we need to replace distorted views with ideas that are consistent with reality. This requires us to assess the reality of the situation objectively from a practical point of view, and to respond reasonably within our capabilities. Emotions: Coping with anxiety properly and choosing “active leisure” It is important to clarify that feeling anxious is not a bad thing in itself, but that short-term anxiety puts people in a state of “stress” where their internal physiological functions are stimulated – such as the secretion of “adrenal glands”. The physiological functions are stimulated – such as the secretion of “adrenaline” to actively respond to a crisis. Buying and using masks, avoiding unnecessary outings, not going to high-risk places, and actively seeking medical information during the outbreak are all positive behaviors that seek to enhance the chances of survival under the influence of anxiety. However, if the state of anxiety persists, chronic fear and anxiety can cause impairment of immune and endocrine function, which directly leads to a decrease in immunity and triggers disease. And fighting novel viral infections, a person’s autoimmune capacity is paramount. In addition, the core experience of anxiety is one of danger and loss of control, and people can also rush to regain a sense of control, resulting in irrational coping behaviors. When you find yourself in a state of excessive anxiety, you need to do self-regulation. Communicating with family members, doing deep relaxation exercises, enjoying beautiful music, and experiencing pleasurable things can all temporarily relieve anxiety. In addition, we can use “active leisure” to enrich ourselves. The so-called active leisure is those activities that require some thought and effort to enjoy. For example, playing chess, reading books, cooking, learning new skills, and other behaviors that require constant effort can achieve the desired results. Active leisure is a good alternative to going out, as it creates a “mind-flow experience” of concentration and forgetfulness and inner peace, which not only counteracts the anxiety of the epidemic, but also improves the quality of life on vacation. Will: Develop the ability to delay gratification Psychologists once did a classic marshmallow experiment, giving a group of 4-year-olds a marshmallow, telling them they could choose to eat it directly, or they could choose to spend 15 minutes in the same room with the marshmallow, and then they could eat two marshmallows. Some children could not stand the temptation to eat the marshmallow directly, and some children could control the impulse to wait 15 minutes. The study found that the longer the children waited, the better their academic performance 14 years later. The mental ability to “delay gratification” is the key to the difference in performance between the two groups, and delaying gratification, while required to accommodate the desire for temptation in the moment, can be very rewarding. Now we are faced with the challenge of a marshmallow experiment. At the time of the epidemic, many of our friends had already bought tickets to travel and reunite with their families, which was like a piece of marshmallow as the “temptation” in the marshmallow experiment. “The additional rewards are: a greatly reduced risk of infection, the long-term rewards of a healthy body, and the opportunity to enjoy long-lasting happiness with family and friends. Behavior: Abstain from the Internet and be wary of epidemic information overload Humans are naturally very sensitive to danger. Over a long period of evolution, humans have evolved to be sensitive to potential dangers. The American psychologist Roy Baumeister once said, “Bad is much more powerful than good,” and that people experience negative emotions about loss more strongly than positive emotions from gains of equal magnitude. This dictates that potential danger signals are more likely to attract our attention than ordinary signals. Recently, the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak has exploded on the Internet, and such information creates a desire for us to pay attention all the time. The more nervous we are, the stronger our desire becomes, and we get caught in a vicious cycle of “more concern, more stress, more stress, more concern. Over-immersion in the negative information flow related to the epidemic can easily lead to a state of stress and further increase anxiety, and at the same time, reduce cognitive function and lose the ability to recognize valid information. To avoid anxiety caused by information overload, try to control the amount of time you spend receiving relevant information during a crisis to no more than one hour per day, do not pay too much attention to relevant information before going to bed, do not listen to hearsay, choose authoritative sources, and be an active collector of information rather than a passive recipient. No matter what has happened, it is most important to maintain a sense of hope that “misfortune is only temporary and everything will always be fine”. I hope that in this battle without smoke and mirrors, we can grow in the crisis, and then have a stronger heart and love life more and more. Article image source: Tang Yicheng, Editor-in-Chief of the Center for Mental Health Promotion, China Science and Technology Association (CSTA). Reviewer: Gao Wenbin, Chief Science Communication Specialist of the CSTA’s “Psychology Science Communication” team.