Mental health characteristics associated with dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety

Abstract

As of 2 April 2020, over one million people have been infected with a novel viral pneumonia (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan, China late December of 2019 (Johns Hopkins University, 2020). For most people, life has radically changed for the worse, as unprecedented rates of job loss, isolation, and COVID-19-related deaths and infections continue to soar. Although health professionals acknowledge the rising fear and anxiety of their patients and others around them, very little is known about those who are debilitated by their fear-based reactions to this infectious disease outbreak. There have been reports in China of elevated levels of depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers