ABSTRACT
With the global pandemic of COVID-19 sweeping the planet has come the loss of a world of once familiar routines, relationships and resources that previously conferred on our lives a sense of security and meaning. This chapter reviews our research in devising and applying a carefully validated screening tool for Coronavirus anxiety as the contagion spread and another brief screener for the complicated bereavement it will leave in its wake. In particular, our findings point to the crucial role of meaning in buffering the effects of the pandemic, suggesting the importance of working with issues of sense-making and belief in grief therapy. The chapter therefore will include (1) a presentation of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale in its complete format with scoring instructions and permission for its use in clinical and research contexts, (2) review of evidence to date for its psychometric rigor and validity, (3) description of its associated symptoms in relation to demographic factors and exposure to COVID-related stressors, (4) summary of the development and validation of the Pandemic Grief Scale and its inclusion for the use of readers in scientific and applied settings, (5) consideration of the role of social and non-social means of mitigating not only Coronavirus contagion but also distress, and (6) discussion of data on the mediating role of meaning making in accounting for these effects. We conclude with several data-informed recommendations for screening and treating coronavirus anxiety and pandemic grief and suggest the value of attending to the impact of the COVID crisis on clients' core beliefs and meaning systems in the context of psychotherapy.
