For the Greater Good? The Devastating Ripple Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis
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TLDR
A model of drivers and outcomes of lockdown behaviors is presented and suggestions and a tool to counteract the negative psychological effects by means of online life crafting therapeutic writing interventions are offered.Abstract:
As the crisis around Covid-19 evolves, it becomes clear that there are numerous negative side-effects of the lockdown strategies implemented by many countries. Currently, more evidence becomes available that the lockdowns may have more negative effects than positive effects. For instance, many measures taken in a lockdown aimed at protecting human life may compromise the immune system, and purpose in life, especially of vulnerable groups. This leads to the paradoxical situation of compromising the immune system and physical and mental health of many people, including the ones we aim to protect. Also, it is expected that hundreds of millions of people will die from hunger and postponed medical treatments. Other side effects include financial insecurity of billions of people, physical and mental health problems, and increased inequalities. The economic and health repercussions of the crisis will be falling disproportionately on young workers, low-income families and women, and thus exacerbate existing inequalities. As the virus outbreak and media coverage spread fear and anxiety, superstition, cognitive dissonance reduction and conspiracy theories are ways to find meaning and reduce anxiety. These behavioral aspects may play a role in the continuance of lockdown decisions. Based on theories regarding agnotology (i.e., the ways ignorance or doubt about certain topics is created by means of withholding or presenting information in a certain way), social influence, superstition and stress and coping, I seek to explain the social and behavioral aspects of human behavior in times of crises. Both the Covid-19 crisis itself as well as the resulting economic and (mental) health crisis are global problems that may require global solutions. I present a model of drivers and outcomes of lockdown behaviors and offer suggestions and a tool to counteract the negative psychological effects by means of online life crafting therapeutic writing interventions.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
COVID-19: Rethinking the Lockdown Groupthink.
TL;DR: A cost-benefit analysis of the response to COVID-19 finds that lockdowns are far more harmful to public health (at least 5-10 times so in terms of wellbeing years) than CoVirus Disease 2019 can be as mentioned in this paper.
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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A syndemic perspective
Inês Fronteira,Mohsin Sidat,João Paulo Magalhães,Fernando Passos Cupertino de Barros,António Pedro Delgado,Tiago Correia,Cláudio Tadeu Daniel-Ribeiro,Paulo Ferrinho +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the SARS-CoV-2 is a one health issue of a syndemic nature and that the failure to acknowledge this contributes to weakened policy-making processes and public health responses and ineffective health policies and programs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Community lockdowns in social networks hardly mitigate epidemic spreading
TL;DR: In this paper, a stochastic susceptible-infectious-recovered model is used to determine when and to what degree community lockdowns are likely to be effective. But the authors emphasize the outstanding importance of endogenous self-isolation and social distancing for successfully arresting epidemic spreading.
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Predictors of Adolescent Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cognitive Reappraisal and Humor.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the moderating role of psychosocial resources in the association between the tangible and emotional experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and symptoms of common psychiatric problems during adolescence (depression, anxiety, proactive and reactive aggression, and sleep problems).
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Optimizing Decision-Making Processes in Times of COVID-19: Using Reflexivity to Counteract Information-Processing Failures
Michaéla C. Schippers,Diana Rus +1 more
TL;DR: This paper proposed group reflexivity, a deliberate process of discussing team goals, processes, or outcomes, as an antidote to these biases and errors in decision-making, which can lead to negative outcomes.
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