Why People Panic Buy: What Crisis Behavior Reveals About Our Mental Health

Every time a major crisis hits — a pandemic, an economic shock, a geopolitical rupture — the same phenomenon appears: shelves stripped bare, trolleys overflowing, queues forming before dawn. People buy far more than they need, despite repeated government assurances that supplies are adequate.

From the outside, it looks irrational. From a psychological standpoint, it is entirely predictable.

In an April 2020 interview with Al Hadath, at the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, I was asked to explain the psychology behind panic buying. What I shared then is just as relevant now — because the same nervous system dynamics that drove panic buying during COVID are activated by any sufficiently threatening crisis.

The Nervous System Under Threat

When we perceive a serious threat — real or anticipated — the brain activates a cascade of stress responses. Most people are familiar with fight-or-flight: the surge of adrenaline and cortisol that prepares us to confront or escape danger. But stress psychology has identified at least three distinct behavioral patterns that emerge under pressure (Taylor et al., 2000):

Fight or flight — people become either aggressive and confrontational, or fearful and avoidant. Panic buying falls squarely into this category. The act of stockpiling is, neurologically, an attempt to escape a perceived threat. The trolley full of rice and pasta is a form of running — creating a buffer between the self and an uncertain future.

Tend-and-befriend — others move toward connection and community. Rather than hoarding, they volunteer, donate, check on neighbours, organise mutual aid. This response is equally driven by stress, but it channels that energy outward and prosocially.

The pattern any individual defaults to is shaped by personality, early attachment experiences, and — critically — how developed their capacity for self-regulation is.

Why Government Reassurance Doesn't Work

One of the most frustrating aspects of panic buying, for authorities and observers alike, is that it persists even when governments clearly communicate that supply chains are intact and there is no shortage.

The reason is neurological: under sufficient stress, the prefrontal cortex — the seat of rational evaluation, planning, and trust in authority — is partially overridden by the amygdala, the brain's threat-detection system. When someone is in a state of acute fear, they cannot fully process reassuring information. The emotional brain is not listening to the rational message (Arnsten, 1998).

This doesn't make the behaviour excusable. But it does make it understandable. And understanding it is the first step to responding more effectively — both individually and at a policy level.

Who Is Most Vulnerable to Crisis Panic?

Not everyone panics. Those who tend to be most affected share certain characteristics: a limited repertoire of stress regulation skills, little experience with deliberate self-awareness or introspective practice, and — in the Arab and Middle Eastern context specifically — a cultural background that has not historically normalised working on one's mental and emotional health.

This is not a criticism. It is a structural observation. The Arab world has lived through continuous wars, displacement, and collective trauma for over sixty years. Where mental health support has been absent, stigmatised, or inaccessible, the tools for self-regulation simply haven't been built. And when a new crisis arrives, the nervous system responds with the only tools it has — which, for many people, means reactivity rather than reflection.

Research on trauma and conflict exposure in the Middle East confirms elevated rates of PTSD, anxiety disorders, and general psychological distress in populations affected by prolonged conflict (de Jong et al., 2001). A nervous system that has been repeatedly threatened is a more reactive one. Panic, in this context, is not weakness — it is the predictable output of unprocessed collective trauma.

A Silver Lining: The Arab World Is Talking About Mental Health

One of the few genuinely positive developments to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis was an acceleration of mental health awareness across the Arab world. For perhaps the first time at scale, social media, television, and mainstream culture began normalising the conversation — acknowledging that psychological distress is real, that it can be too much to carry alone, and that seeking help is a sign of self-awareness rather than weakness.

This shift matters enormously. Stigma is not just a social inconvenience — it is a public health barrier. When people cannot seek help, stress accumulates, reactivity increases, and crisis events like pandemics hit harder. The normalisation of mental health support is, in a very literal sense, a form of collective resilience-building.

What You Can Actually Do During a Crisis

The most important psychological principle during any crisis is also one of the most counterintuitive: focus only on what is within your control.

Worrying about outcomes you cannot influence — the trajectory of a pandemic, a war, a market collapse, a government's policy decisions — does not protect you. It only elevates cortisol, impairs immune function, disrupts sleep, and amplifies your own reactivity. In doing so, it makes you a less stable presence for everyone around you.

What you can control:

Your routine. Maintaining consistent wake and sleep times, meals, movement, and social contact is not trivial — it is a direct intervention on your stress physiology. Sleep, in particular, is one of the most powerful regulators of cortisol and emotional reactivity available to us (Vgontzas et al., 1997). When routine collapses, stress escalates. When routine holds, the nervous system has something to anchor to.

Your attention. Consciously redirecting attention away from uncontrollable catastrophic thinking and toward purposeful activity — learning a new skill, deepening a relationship, contributing to community — is not avoidance. It is the neurological equivalent of strengthening a muscle.

Your presence. You are, at every moment, transmitting a signal to the people around you. Calm is contagious. So is panic. Choosing to be a source of order, clarity, and groundedness within your family and workplace is not a passive act — it is one of the most meaningful contributions you can make during collective upheaval.

A Final Word

To those on the frontlines of any crisis — healthcare workers, journalists, emergency responders, policymakers — the psychological cost is real and cumulative. The work is meaningful, and meaning is one of the most powerful buffers against burnout that psychology knows. But meaning without self-care is not sustainable. Please take care of yourselves. The people you are protecting need you to.

References

Arnsten, A.F.T. (1998). Catecholamine modulation of prefrontal cortical cognitive function. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(11), 436–447.

de Jong, J.T.V.M., Komproe, I.H., Van Ommeren, M., El Masri, M., Araya, M., Khaled, N., van de Put, W., & Somasundaram, D. (2001). Lifetime events and posttraumatic stress disorder in 4 postconflict settings. JAMA, 286(5), 555–562.

Naeem, M. (2021). Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of Covid-19 pandemic? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102226.

Taylor, S.E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B.P., Gruenewald, T.L., Gurung, R.A.R., & Updegraff, J.A. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 411–429.

Vgontzas, A.N., Bixler, E.O., Wittman, A.M., Zachman, K., Lin, H.M., Vela-Bueno, A., Kales, A., & Chrousos, G.P. (1997). Middle-of-the-night awakening in human sleep: Assessment by HPA-axis hormones. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 82(5), 1404–1407.

About the Author

Ms. Sarah El Nabulsi, M.Sc., M.A., M.A. is a DHA Licensed Clinical Psychologist based in Dubai and the UAE Director of the Transcendental Meditation Organization. She specialises in anxiety, stress, trauma, emotional wellbeing, and integrative approaches to mental health. She has been featured on MBC1, BBC Arabic, Sky News Arabia, Al Hadath, and Kalam Nawa3em.

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