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Health Anxiety In Our Kids is Increasing

Many of my child and teen clients are feeling anxious about the Hantavirus.

And, today the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Although this is serious, the WHO has said this is not a pandemic emergency and does require coordinated international action.

Social Media Increases Health Anxiety

Unfortunately, once the social media content creators hear this, they will be making all kinds of anxiety producing videos on Instagram and Tik Toks about the Ebola World Health Emergency, to add more fear, and get more views! (And remember that your child does not have to search this up. Many short form videos get pushed into their feed by the algorithm, even though it could scare them.)

One of my teen clients recently shared an Instagram post with me which had a screenshot of a real news headline saying:  “Canadians on ship at centre of hantavirus outbreak land in Victoria, BC”, and then the content creator added “Welp we’re cooked chat”!

For some, they can laugh at this, especially with the Gen Z wording!!

Translation…. “Eek, we’re doomed, people”.

But for others, it confirms and adds to the anxiety they’re already feeling about the thought of another pandemic.

Post-Covid Health Anxiety

Especially our teens remember the Covid days, which is why the Hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship is leading to catastrophic thinking (a hallmark of anxiety), doom scrolling, hypervigilance about body sensations and “crystal ball thinking” – fears that this is going to happen again, just like Covid.

Younger kids may not be getting all the fear mongering posts and reels on social media (including YouTube), but they may hear it on the school playground or have older siblings who share their anxious thoughts out loud.

It makes sense that so many kids and teens are currently experiencing health anxiety because they did experience a real global pandemic where their brains learned that “sometimes scary disease news does become life-changing”. They may now mistrust the message that “everything is fine”.

How Can Parents Calm Health Anxiety?

1. Remind your child/teen that news media and social media use scary headlines to get more publicity.

2. Explain that social media posts use dramatic music, exaggerated language, misinformation and algorithm-driven fear content for social contagion so that you will share it with all your friends.

3. State the facts:

• The Hantavirus has already existed in North America for decades. The outbreak on the cruise ship was unusual and rare. The overall number of cases in North America remains extremely small.
• As of today, the WHO states that there are no signs of a larger pandemic or a widespread outbreak.
• Unlike Covid, the Hantavirus spreads through close, prolonged contact so it is much harder to contract.
• Yes, there is now one confirmed case in BC but this person is isolating and they were a passenger on the cruise ship.

4. Don’t give too much reassurance! With anxiety, it is always tricky to avoid the reassurance loop, but if you partake in the anxiety, you will feed it. Instead, it’s best to state the facts and then if your child/teen keeps asking reassurance questions such as “What if…?”, you can explain that by continuing to talk about it, it’s feeding the anxiety and so you are not going to continue discussing it.

5. Stay in the present. At this moment, right now, we are well. Worrying has no magical powers and doesn’t make us feel good. (I recently made a fun, short Instagram reel on a sunny day with my umbrella, to explain that worrying is like holding up an umbrella on a sunny day waiting for it to rain. Is that really how we want so spend our time on a sunny day?)

6. “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Discuss the important proactive awareness that this recent Hantavirus has created. Many people will now take more care when cleaning out rodent droppings from a shed or garage.

To my Canadian readers, happy long weekend and to my American readers, for next week, happy long weekend!

Warmly,

Sharon