How to deal with your anxiety about the terrorist threat

Acts of violence, terrorist threats, pandemic and economic crisis. We have had many stressful circumstances to deal with in recent years.

When the threats are diffuse, the stress can be harder to get out of. But there are tricks, psychologists advise.

Just when the pandemic with restrictions and fear of contagion subsided, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a fact. A concern about which country would be next and how Sweden would be affected spread. Increased electricity and food prices and a struggling economy were not long in coming. At the same time, the number of acts of violence has increased and the Security Police recently raised the terror threat level in Sweden from 3 to 4 on a five-point scale.

– The body does not differentiate between the type of anxiety and stress involved, it reacts in the same way. Then it is individual how strongly we react to the stress, says Sara Hedrenius, advisor in mental health and psychosocial support at the Red Cross.

Abstract threat

Stress is not dangerous in itself, but if it lasts for a long time and affects our everyday life, it becomes a problem. We find it easier to deal with a threat that is concrete than something that is abstract.

– If the crisis is a fire, we can smell it, see and feel it. But Säpo raising the terror threat level by one step on a scale without anything having happened – that is very difficult for us to relate to and is different from, for example, the pandemic, she says.

In a period of stress and worry, it is important to try to start from what we know and not let the imagination run wild, says Charlotte Therup Svedenlöf, crisis and disaster psychologist in the Stockholm region.

– We humans function in such a way that when we do not have all the facts about a situation, we fill in to create order. We imagine different explanations or scenarios and for someone with a lot of imagination it can be very difficult, she says.

Good at adaptation

TT: Is it possible to get used to constant threats and moments of anxiety?

– We humans are fantastic at adapting to new circumstances. There are those who live in war-torn areas and still go to cafes. The crisis can become a normality and we find ways to relate to a new existence.

An aggravating circumstance is that we are asked by, among other authorities, to prepare for something that they say will probably not happen.

– It is a paradox that we should be vigilant and bunker down for crisis but still live as usual. For some it will be very difficult, says Charlotte Therup Svedenlöf.

Pause the news feed

Even though fear, worry and stress are natural reactions to things that happen, there are those who become overly affected. Anyone who has trouble sleeping for a long time, or begins to severely restrict themselves by, for example, avoiding shops or buses for fear that something will happen, may need help.

– A first step is to talk to others about how you feel, the social environment is extremely important. There are good programs on 1177 for anxiety that may be helpful.

Charlotte Therup Svedenlöf also advises not to follow the flow of information continuously.

– Schedule moments when you update yourself on the news status. And above all, turn to the police and other authorities and trusted media with proper fact-checking. In situations like this, there is much that flourishes in different directions.

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