New Survey Shows 50 Percent Of People Are Nervous About Returning Back To ‘Pre-Pandemic’ Life

According to a survey done by the American Psychological Association, 49 percent of adults are uncomfortable returning to “pre-pandemic normal” life. The survey also reports that 48 percent of people who have had their COVID-19 vaccine are also very uncomfortable. 

An article by CNBC’s Cory Stieg says there are ways to combat that those feelings. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, most people expect social anxiety, which has more likely and common during the Rona pandemic. People have been cautious around people and public outings so much that it has led to people wanting to avoid social gatherings altogether. 

“By being housebound during the pandemic, we’ve been acting like we have severe social anxiety,” Ellen Hendriksen, a clinical psychologist, told Elemental in an interview published on Feb. 16. “It’s for a good reason, of course, but it mimics avoidance, which feeds and waters social anxiety.”

On top of that, Kevin Antshel, clinical psychologist and director of the clinical psychology program at Syracuse University, says that humans are not okay with uncertainty. Throughout the pandemic, we as the masses have been learning more about the virus, leaving us sometimes in the dark about what we actually believe. “Extraordinarily high levels of uncertainty are really against how we’ve advanced as human beings,” Antshel told CNBC’s Make It. He added that the more uncertain we feel, the more afraid we as people become.

“In the face of all that uncertainty, we become really ineffective at making good risk threat assessments,” Wright told the APA. “We have a tendency to either overestimate risk or underestimate risk, and that then translates into our behaviors.”

To help with the uncertainty and anxiety, Jennifer Shannon, a cognitive-behavioral therapist and author specializing in anxiety disorders, said, “It’s natural to feel nervous in new situations, but remember that negative emotions are not a sign you’re doing something wrong…Curb the urge to seek reassurance from others that you are doing the right thing,” Shannon wrote. “Getting reassurance reinforces the belief that if we do everything right, we will avoid criticism. True confidence comes from allowing for mistakes and accepting that we cannot please everyone.”