Fear and worry are normal responses when people perceive and experience threats. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought daily stressors over the past year, leaving many people with a sustained feeling of anxiety.

While social distancing has been necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the separation from others can exacerbate anxiety by leaving people feeling isolated and lonely. Learning to recognize and cope with stress in healthy ways can improve resilience.

On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, we discuss healthy strategies for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Halena Gazelka is joined by Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, and his daughter, Caroline Poland, a licensed mental health counselor.

---

Watch: Dr. Greg Poland and Caroline Poland discuss mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic:

For everyone's safety, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date. 

Dr. Poland has served as a consultant for Merck & Co., Medicago Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Sanofi Pasteur, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Genentech Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc., Kentucky BioProcessing Inc. and Genevant Sciences Corporation. Honoraria: Elsevier.

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

Learn more about tracking COVID-19 and COVID-19 trends.

Related Articles