The psychology of pandemics
Steven Taylor
HOW DO PANDEMICS SPREAD?
Superspreaders: 20% of infected people are responsible for 80% of transmissions.
Steven Taylor
HOW DO PANDEMICS SPREAD?
Superspreaders: 20% of infected people are responsible for 80% of transmissions.
Superspreaders are people who are not immunized or immunocompromised [susceptible to infection], donβt engage in personal hygiene and/or comes in contact with many people. They can be contagious but asymptomatic (being in an incubation period)
The 1st wave of infection primarily affected the poor whereas people from the upper social classes were more afflicted by the 2nd wave.
There are several possible reasons why the poor were among the first victims, including overcrowding, which increases the risk of contagion,poor housing conditions, lack of access to clean water.
People with greater economic resources have great opportunities for seeking medical care and for avoiding infection, at least in the short term, including fleeing infected areas until the pandemic catches up with them.
CONTEMPORARY METHODS FOR MANAGING PANDEMICS
Overriding public health goal is to bring the outbreak under control as quickly as possible with minimal disruption and maintaining trust through honest and clear communication.
Overriding public health goal is to bring the outbreak under control as quickly as possible with minimal disruption and maintaining trust through honest and clear communication.
Risk communication involves giving the public the information they need to make well-informed decisions about how to protect their health and safety.
Commonly recommended hygiene practices include hand washing with soap/sanitizer, covering sneezes/coughs, cleaning household surfaces, and wearing facemasks. Social distancing include Quarantine of infected persons, school closure, workplace closure, cancelling mass gatherings.
PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO PANDEMICS
2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, in which the "epidemic of fear" was worse than the epidemic itself in terms of the number of people affected
2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, in which the "epidemic of fear" was worse than the epidemic itself in terms of the number of people affected
People who are highly anxious about being infected typically go to great lengths to protect themselves.
This may involve avoidance of infection-related stimuli, including people, places, and things associated with disease. People may refuse to go to work for fear of coming in contact with infected others.
During Spanish flu, there were reports of sick, bedridden people starving to death because they were avoided by others.
in 2003, in China,there were widespread reports of household dogs and cats being abandoned, euthanized, or sometimes brutally killed (e.g., beaten to death), because of fear that the animals might be carrying the SARS virus
Mental disorders can be triggered or exacerbated by pandemicrelated stressors, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Depression or severe grief can occur in people who have lost loved ones during a pandemic
It is important to understand what leads people to become excessively distressed during outbreaks of severe infectious disease.
It is important to understand what leads people to become excessively distressed during outbreaks of severe infectious disease.
This can help predict who is likely to need psychological services when the next pandemic arises and develop optimal psychological treatments for affected individuals.
The Desperate Pursuit of Quack Cures and Folk Remedies :
There is a long history of such nostrums for influenza, including wearing necklaces of garlic, inhaling carbolic acid vapors, and consuming pine tar.
There is a long history of such nostrums for influenza, including wearing necklaces of garlic, inhaling carbolic acid vapors, and consuming pine tar.
In one instance a Canadian man drank hydrogen peroxide in the hope of keeping himself safe from the Spanish flu.
Taking large doses of vitamins or herbal supplements in the hope that this will somehow boost their immune system. Some anti-vaccination conspiracy theorists claim that large doses of vitamin C are a cure-all.
Mass panic is a group phenomenon in which intensely frightened people think only of themselves, causing harm to others as they struggle to save themselves, citizens clashed violently with health authorities, fearing that the authorities were harming rather than helping them.
lack of medication due to the public's buying up and hoarding of pharmacy supplies, along with rioting and looting of food from restaurants and grocery stores
Truck drivers and other food service delivery agents may refuse to enter infected cities, thereby leading the inhabitants to either starve or flee.
Panic and civil unrest could arise because of the spread of unfounded rumors via social media like the people demanding a drug that is irrelevant to the pandemic disease.
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