Coronavirus is a "personal nightmare" for people with OCD and anxiety disorders.

Over 2 million Americans are estimated to be affected by OCD, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Nearly 7 million people in the U.S. are affected by generalized anxiety disorder and about 6 million by panic disorder. While the concern about the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of Americans from all walks of life, interviews with people with mental health issues — including anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD and panic disorder — as well as counselors who are treating them, reflect a particular chaos the virus has caused.

Many people with these disorders are going through a wave of similar emotions and thoughts. They fear getting someone else sick, even if they aren't showing symptoms. Those who already keep hand sanitizer and disinfectant with them at all times suddenly can't find those products at stores thanks to panic shoppers. Some behold the irony that their daily routine of hyper-cleanliness is suddenly everyone else's reality, while others feel thrown off by the government's telling them that to prevent coronavirus spread, they need to do all the excessive cleaning and isolating that they've previously tried not to do to control their mental health disorders.

As more events, schools and services have been canceled, the nonprofit Crisis Text Line saw an increase in people reaching out for help because of the coronavirus, the intervention hotline said Monday. As of March 13, COVID-19 was mentioned in 15 percent of all conversations on the Crisis Text Line. On Reddit, forums for people with OCD are full of users sharing memes related to COVID-19 and their community, describing how social distancing is giving them more time to worry and asking for support with the fear that has taken hold of them.

Mental health counselors say the wave of anxiety sweeping their patients in clinics is unlike anything they've seen before.

"This one is so broad, and you know everyone is being exposed to this particular fear — I think it's unraveling lots of folks," said Reid Wilson, director of the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center of Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coronavirus-personal-nightmare-people-ocd-anxiety-disorders-n1164066?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma