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Coronavirus Disease 2019
COVID-19 Captivity and Creative Reframing
Turning “shelter in” from a threat to a challenge.
Posted April 4, 2020
Our current “shelter in” situation, which I’ve referred to as COVID-19 Captivity, is going to be with us for some time to come. People who are still leaving their homes to work (those who are deemed “essential” to maintaining life and the basic functions of society) risk exposure to infection each day, along with exposure to their families. Thank you to all who are consistently putting yourselves at risk so that the rest of us can have basic services! The remainder of people includes those of us working from home, those who have temporarily lost their jobs, students with no school to go to, and children. Given our mandate to stay home, how do we live our best lives?
The first line of resilience in the face of this reality is to creatively reframe the reality. You can reduce stress, both the stress you experience psychologically as anxiety and the stress you experience physically that takes a toll on your health, by reframing the situation from a threat into a challenge. A threat is something that is happening to you that may hurt you and that you have no control over. A challenge is an obstacle that you can confront, do battle with, and overcome.
Most challenges present opportunities for positive growth. Our natural tendency is to avoid threats and to pursue challenges. Challenges are, by their nature, motivating and invigorating! Further, research indicates that perceiving stressors as threats activates a maladaptive stress response (including increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and avoidance orientation), whereas perceiving them as challenges activates an adaptive physiological stress response (milder increase in heart rate but no increased blood pressure and approach orientation) that is much healthier overall1.
Here’s an example of a typical threat appraisal of the current situation similar to what I hear from distressed clients:
Because of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, I am being forced to stay at home, I can’t do my work, I can’t go to the gym, I can’t go out to dinner, or do any of the activities that give me pleasure. I’ll go crazy stuck at home for another month with the kids with nothing to do.
Here’s an example of a possible challenge reframe:
Because of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the number of people being exposed to the virus is increasing through social contact. I have an opportunity to help reduce the outbreak. My mission is to reduce exposure through social distancing measures and ensuring that my family and I stay positive and practice personal hygiene. Each day we practice these measures we are contributing to the defeat of the outbreak.
This reframing empowers members of the family of all ages. It transforms each individual from a victim of a threatening situation into an agent in control of their circumstances. We know from decades of research that people who feel a sense of control over their surroundings experience less anxiety2, depression3, and perceived stress and illness4. It’s particularly helpful to assist children in this reframing effort because when they feel they’re part of an important mission rather than being deprived of their former routine, they will often rise to the occasion, complain less, and be more cooperative.
As you reframe the “shelter in” situation as a personal mission to contribute to the welfare of humanity, it’s useful to consider others who have endured tight spaces for long periods in order to perform their missions. Some examples are astronauts, whose average mission in the tight quarters of the International Space Station lasts about six months; researchers in the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, who live indoors for nine months during the dark winter before flights to the base resume again; and sailors onboard submarines, who may spend months at sea before seeing land and getting respite from their cramped quarters.
Now is a good time to learn more about people who perform these missions and how they pass the time when they’re not engaged in work. It can make our current “shelter in” situation seem pretty sweet in comparison. Children may enjoy pretending to be on an imaginary mission: playing the part space explorers or Antarctic explorers. Now is also a good time to read more about the explorers of the past who were confined to tight quarters—such as Ernest Shackleton and his amazing adventures aboard the aptly named Endurance5.
All of us are, in fact, explorers right now. We are navigating unchartered territories as we use modern technologies and cutting edge knowledge for the first time in history to fight a microscopic enemy. It is indeed a challenge. We are all on a mission and we are active agents in the fight. When we reframe our conception of “shelter in” to be an active piece of a greater quest rather than a threat to our personal routine, we will improve our well-being and be more resilient as we prepare for whatever this battle brings us in the future.
Stay curious and stay well!
References
1 Jamieson, J.P., Nock, M.K., & Mendes, W.B. (2012). Mind over matter: Reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 417–422.
2 Chorpita, B.F., & Barlow, D.H. (1998). The development of anxiety: The role of control in the early environment. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 3–21.
3 Hovenkamp-Hermelink, J.H., Jeronimus, B.F., Spinhoven, P., Penninx, B.W., Schoevers, R.A., & Riese, H. (2019). Differential associations of locus of control with anxiety, depression and life-events: A five-wave, nine-year study to test stability and change. Journal of Affective Disorders, 253, 26-34.
4 Roddenberry, A., & Rcnk, K. (2010). Locus of control and self-efficacy: Potential mediators of stress, illness, and utilization of health services in college students. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 41(4), 353-370.
5 Lansing, A. (1959/2014). Endurance: Shackleton’s incredible voyage. New York, NY: Basic Books.
