The coronavirus pandemic has seen heightened levels of anxiety and tension across the globe, as many report feeling more anxious and distressed than ever before.
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Mental health services have faced extraordinary demand and a lot of this demand has come from people who had never reached out for support previously.
'You're not actually having to face the fear you normally would if you were working and socialising'
Anxiety has been a part of Anna Brett's life since she was a young child. She recalled her first experience with social anxiety when she was in Kindergarten.
"There were all these people and I was really scared of everyone," she said.
As she grew, Ms Brett said her anxiety did as well.
"As I got older it just worse and it kept brewing and developing," she said.
For Ms Brett this time has been strangely comforting.
"It's been really weird because everyone around me is really stressed and worried and they are having great difficulty with having to stay home and avoid other people and I don't like that everyone else is upset but also for me this is like my ideal situation cause I can stay home and I can relax," she said.
"Suddenly all the things I want to do are available online so I can do them easily without having to talk to people as much or without having to go out.
"A large part of my social anxiety is the face-to-face interaction or meeting new people and if I can just do that online then it's just less confronting."
According to University of Canberra clinical psychologist Dr Vivienne Lewis, Ms Brett's experience is not an isolated one.
"The most common anxiety disorder is actually social phobia where people are anxious in the company of other people, they're anxious in performing in front of other people or they're anxious in interacting, small talk, social occasions, those sorts of things," she said.
"So because of the isolation of course, you are not seeing people and you're not actually having to face the fear you normally would if you were working and socialising.
"For some people who don't particularly like the social element and get very, very anxious about that, this is actually a time when they are reporting that yes, they actually feel very little anxiety because they are not having to leave the house and they are not having to interact with people."
'They're activating what they call their well-being plans'
Another reason some with anxiety have handled the pandemic is because they have a mental health plan which they can put in place, Mental Illness Education ACT chief executive Heidi Prowse said.
"Some people have been experiencing mental ill health for the first time ever and kind of understanding and navigating that has come with its challenges because everyone around you is a part of that uncertainty," she said.
"It can be really hard for someone who has never experienced mental ill health before to try and place what's going on and what to do.
"Then we have got a range of people who have lived with mental illness or mental ill health in the past and are recognising what's happening at the moment.
"They're activating what they call their well-being plans, really ramping up the things they know work for them to manage and support themselves."
Stephen Blumenthal said he relied on routine as a coping mechanism. The 18-year-old said he felt his anxiety has not been exacerbated due to the coronavirus.
"Personally, I don't think it's had a direct impact, I don't think I am feeling any more or less directly because of it," he said.
"I don't see it personally as too much of a threat to myself because I'm still fairly young but I obviously don't want to spread it to people that can't handle it."
As well as that, Mr Blumenthal said given how the pandemic unfolded so quickly there was not much time to worry about how much worse it was going to get.
"The point of worrying about it going bad is kind of already passed that because it's already gone pretty bad," he said.
"It's less about worrying what's going to happening and more like worrying, OK it's happened how long is it going to go on for."
Mr Blumenthal was diagnosed with anxiety when he was in early high school.
"It will affect me very differently, some weeks I'll just be feeling a little bit more down, a bit less interested and a bit less motivated," Mr Blumenthal said.
"There are other times where it might be when I am in the middle of the week that I have been doing incredible and happy and I'm going great and then very suddenly I feel like I have hit a wall and you know I either go into complete panic mode."
'Every individual is different'
The effect of anxiety is not a one size fits all situation for all.While some have reported feeling at ease, others had a completely different reaction.
"Every individual is different and they have their own journey when it comes to their mental health," Ms Prowse said.
Dr Lewis said there were many different forms of anxiety and some people had a large increase in anxious feelings.
"Certainly people who might have obsessive compulsive disorder where people are fearful of contamination or germs or vomiting or getting sick, those sorts of things," she said.
"Something like COVID increases their anxiety because obviously there is more emphasis on germs and health and those sorts of things.
"For people who have health anxieties, normally this actually makes that much worse."
While both Ms Brett's and Mr Blumenthal's anxiety has been generally OK during the pandemic, there are some situations where they have felt ill at ease.
Ms Brett said her anxiety does spike when she goes out to do things such as grocery shopping.
"When I go out I'm always aware of other people and where they are in relation to me because I get anxious with people around me but now I have to be more aware because it's for my own health and there is actually a reason behind it," she said.
"It's much more difficult I can't just say anxiety you are being dumb, there are people there and they are fine, instead I have to say there are people there and they do need to keep their distance from me but I still don't need to be scared of them."
For Mr Blumenthal, who described himself as a "very, very social person", he said he struggled with the fact he could not catch up with friends.
"I'm very much missing being able to catch up with people and be social because that is one of the things that helps me personally in terms of keeping on top of my anxiety," he said.
But as restrictions start to ease, people's anxiety would not. Ms Prowse said many with anxiety would be feeling a fresh wave of tension.
"I think it's really hard for a lot of other people where we have come indoors for a couple of weeks but that idea was to flatten the curve, it is still something that is present," she said.
"Walking back into life as it was, I think we will have a transition period for people and in the same way that we needed to give people time to transition into working from home and staying at home, we need to really consider what the graduated return back for people, not just physically [and] practically but also emotionally what that looks like."
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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