For the first time in our lifetimes, the entire world is speaking about the same crisis with the same perspective. But there is one word we’ve seen over and over again that just doesn’t help: panic. Every day, there are stories about buying panics, selling panics, and just plain panic panics. But are we really panicked at all?

Panic is defined as an overwhelming fear causing irrational or unthinking behavior. Clinically, sufferers can experience intense physical feelings that can seem like a heart attack. In other words, panic is fear on steroids that leads people to behave in ways that just don’t make sense.