As you probably already know, the most common mental illness in the world today is anxiety. Although feeling fearful during the coronavirus pandemic is entirely normal, seriously disruptive anxious reactions are fast becoming common. Although reading articles and listening to podcasts about this cataclysm is not recommended for those suffering from any of the eight varieties of anxiety syndromes, because the sources might serve to exacerbate your fearfulness, my brief summary of the best new ideas should prove helpful to you. I also want you to know that my new book, Why Don’t You Just Relax? is available at amazon.com, as an electronic book for Kindle, and also as a paperback book. There is some overlap between my podcasts and this new book, but the latter is designed much more as a self-help instrument. I hope you will give it a look! Hi. This is Dr. John Dacey, with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. As you probably already know, the most common mental disorder in the world today is anxiety. Although feeling fearful during the coronavirus pandemic is entirely normal, seriously disruptive anxious reactions are fast becoming common. Reading articles and listening to podcasts about this cataclysm is not recommended for those suffering from any of the eight varieties of anxiety syndromes. These sources might serve to exacerbate your fearfulness. However, this very brief summary of the best new ideas that I offer you today should prove helpful to you. First, let me remind you, my theory about the anxiety syndrome in general is that it is based on childhood claustrophobia. For example, there is the time when I crawled under a pillow in my baby carriage, and was blue-faced by the time my mother discovered me. That laid the basis for associating fear with being trapped, later in my life. Seems to have happened often, and generalized to many other circumstances. Does this ring any bells with you? So what can we do if we feel trapped now? Trapped in our houses, without our normal social stimuli. Trapped in our bodies, with constant concerns that we are experiencing some coronavirus symptoms. Trapped in our minds, with constant fears that this is never going to end, or that it will end badly for us. What can we do? Well, we need to prove to ourselves that we are NOT trapped! We can go for a walk or a drive by ourselves. A good friend of mine and I met yesterday on a park bench, and, sitting on either end of the bench, we had a stimulating conversation. At one point a lady walking by chided us, saying, “You two are only 5 feet apart!” I think she was kidding. We can take advantage of our restrictions by completing jobs we’ve been promising ourselves we would do for ages. My favorite writing team, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, demonstrate the ultimate example of freedom. Their major character, FBI agent-at-large Aloysius Pendergast, has been chained to a table in a wicked man’s cellar. He was promised that when the man comes back in three hours, Pendergast will die. Our hero decides not to waste the time, so he goes on a delightful trip through a gorgeous garden, in his mind. At the end of 3 hours, Pendergast is well rested, and of course is able to overcome his opponent. The point is,