Letter to the Editor: TV show played down severity of virus crisis

Last Friday’s Late Late Show included a segment devoted to the coronavirus outbreak. While I found elements of it informative it felt to me it was more an exercise in trying to calm people’s fears at the expense of a true analysis of the threat posed by the virus. The problem with such an approach is that people generally see through such tactics and instead of being reassured their anxiety increases.

Dr Harry Barry who has written numerous books in the area of mental health was right on cue urging people to “stay calm and get on with living your lives”. When I hear a comment like this I smell a rat. Essentially such an approach dismisses a person’s anxieties. If someone is so anxious about going out socialising, going to the cinema, etc. what is the point in doing it? The very purpose of doing these things is defeated.