UTSA professor offers strategies to cope during a pandemic

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APRIL 2, 2020 — As a professor and clinical psychologist with an emphasis on behavioral medicine, Mary McNaughton-Cassill of UTSA’s Department of Psychology conducts research involving stress and coping in our complex, technologically driven world.

Here, McNaughton-Cassill, who is also a fellow of the UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers, discusses the stress response to negative news stories like the coronavirus pandemic and ways people can help themselves stay mentally healthy. 

With so many people isolated at home, hungry for information, the news coverage of the current health crisis can take an outsized role in the imagination. Are there strategies people can use to cope with the emotional stress generated by media coverage of the coronavirus? 

When faced with a crisis like this viral pandemic, we have to take responsibility for the way we consume media. Responsibility includes determining how best to get the information we need from the medium we prefer. If you are disturbed by graphic pictures, then maybe you want to listen to the radio. If you like to take your time to think about what you learn, you might want to read your news. It is good practice to sample coverage from different sources to get a balanced view of the situation.

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“Now is a great time to prioritize things we have neglected. Start conversations with the people we care about.”

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Evaluate who produced the content, what their intentions were, how they packaged the information and how it will impact people from different backgrounds or circumstances. Evaluate the statistics by asking yourself if they make sense and if they have practical significance. If a headline screams that your risk of getting a disease has doubled, find where they got the number, and consider why it matters. A study in rats that suggests that a food additive changes your risk of cancer from .0001 to .0002 may not be false, but it may not impact your life much either. 

Finally, be aware of the fact that it is up to us to put things in context. As scary and threatening as this virus is, it may not even come close to matching the annual death rates of heart disease. That said, we all need to do our part to make sure that remains the case. 

Incomes are being reduced or eliminated by the sudden economic downturn. Are there any strategies families can adopt to ward off anxiety associated with material insecurity? How can people use their worries to help their financial situation? 

We live in an economically interdependent world, so we are all going to need to take advantage of the available safety nets. Unemployment benefits, changes in interest rates and loan payments, rebates to individual taxpayers, and food banks will help. Still, we may also need to limit our discretionary spending. Being unable to go out to eat, drink, shop and attend events can limit our outlay. However, many of us will need to avoid replacing those activities with online shopping. Talking with family members about how to conserve money and approaching it as a team effort may help. But the stress and uncertainty of the current situation are bound to generate anxiety, regardless of how careful we are, so being kind to ourselves is more important than ever. 

Before the coronavirus became the dominant stressor in many people’s lives, modern life, in general, seems to have increased the stress and general anxiety level of the population. What technological advances have had the most impact on our moods, and how can we move to a more balanced and less-stress lifestyle? 

It can be hard to remember how quickly technology has changed our lives. We are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of news, choices, opinions and distractions confronting us. Rather than working too hard and dying of injuries or infections, we don’t exercise enough and deal with chronic illnesses. Now is a great time to prioritize things we have neglected. Start conversations with the people we care about, take up new hobbies, fix things around the house and take the time to think about what is important to you. When this viral outbreak is over, we will all go back to our regular lives, but maybe some of those habits will be strong enough to persist. 

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You have studied the stress that couples experience when undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment for infertility. Are there any conclusions from your research we can apply to our current public health crisis? 

When partners are in treatment for infertility, they often find that they cope differently. Women tend to have more social confidants and report that they have been talking about their feelings with other women. Men, on the other hand, often rely on their romantic partner to be their confidant so they may not have shared their concerns with anyone but their partner. 

Of course, people vary in terms of their temperament, patience, and stress tolerance, and trying to get pregnant differs from trying not to get sick. In both situations, people are coping with uncertainty, financial worries, and the sense that they are not in control of their future. 

But no matter your living situation, being aware of your own emotions and using effective communication strategies can make it easier to cope.

— James Dobbins

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