Psychology of pandemic
Early in March, the COVID-19 has been identified as a pandemic- meaning that it can spread across a wide geographical area and affect the majority of the population.
As we witness an increase in the number of people infected, there is another phenomenon which illustrates the true nature of the disaster, namely the increasing levels of panic and confusion in response to it, people rushing towards the supermarkets buying goods in large quantity, stockpiling, unlocking their coping mechanism. Even though this is not the first time in the course of human history that we face such disasters, starting from the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish flu, Asian flu, we as humans cannot escape the panic and the mass hysteria surrounding it, regardless of the social and political circumstances we encounter.
Apart from the behavioural changes we witness in a moment of crisis, we can have a look at some of the psychological aspects of the pandemics.
Emotional impact
Emotional response — during the SARS outbreak, the emotional consequences of the virus had a greater and long-lasting impact as significant as the fatal rate of infections. Even though the reactions among individuals can differ significantly- ranging from fear to indifference, the levels of stress and anxiety cannot be ignored. The disregard of any form of anxiety and emotional stress can result in even more adverse psychological complications in long terms, in some cases people can express an extreme type of behavior, for instance during the SARS outbreak, a woman placed banknotes in the microwave as she feared that the money were infected.
Moreover, if people are exposed to a large rate of mortality due to a virus outbreak, the emotional impact can reoccur over the years, causing permanent damage and influencing the copy mechanism of the individuals. As with the SPARS, coronavirus is relatively novel, self-isolation is compulsory treatment, and it is highly infectious, all of these factors can result in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A sense of desperation
In desperate times, we seek desperate measures. Many of us are susceptible to irrational thinking, especially in times when we have to protect our loved ones and our life, following that people trust ‘experts’ and new remedies previously unknown, we are inclined to believe in superstitions and even ignore completely any reasonable argument. For example, during the Spanish flu, a Canadian drank hydrogen peroxide to keep himself immune, fortunately enough he survived given the fact that the dosage he took was considered lethal.
Panic
Another response to a crisis can be unprecedented levels of panic, we have witnessed some of it around the world already, people stockpiling with toilet papers, rushing into the supermarkets and over-preparing. There are two reasonable explanations behind such behavior, people want to feel in control of the situation in times when the government or official bodies are not able to provide the security and maintain a sense of stability. On the other hand, people may develop the urge to turn to more father-like figure in a time of crisis, someone who adopts more utilitarian thinking strategy, specifically an individual with a lot of influence and power, for instance, that’s the case with the president of the United States- Donald Trump- who may use this as an opportunity to secure re-election and spread his influence even further in such dire times.
Pro-social behavior and empathy
Empathy can be described as an ability to feel other people’s experiences, identifying and experiencing the same emotions, thoughts, and attitudes. Empathy is expressed in times when we react to another person’s distress, even infants show empathy towards one another, however, in real-life situations, many of us fail to exercise a pro-social behavior because we avoid experiencing empathy. Different type of empathy can produce different responses in us- imagining how other person feels leads to empathy and altruistic behavior while imagining how you would feel in the same situation creates a sense of empathy, altruism, and egoism. Following that people who have experienced similar situations are more likely to empathize with you. Researchers indicate that empathy is linked to the feeling of compassion which motivates us to help others. At the outbreak of the COVID -19, we’ve already witnessed a series of events triggered by empathy and altruistic behavior –Italians, who have been self-isolating themselves, singing from their homes and encouraging others to join, Bulgarians clapping from homes to the paramedics coming to help as a sign of support and respect, to name a few. These and other such behaviours are triggered by the desire to reduce the level of emotional distress even for a while and to show we are all humans.
