Is Psychology Prepared to Help Us Confront the Pandemic?

Amid a global pandemic, mainstream psychology has lost its way. Reality, to which it has empirically paid homage, has changed its stripes. Marked fear or anxiety to come out of one’s home, stand in line, in a crowd, or take public transportation, are diagnostic criteria of Agoraphobia provided in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel (DSM 5); however, such markers of this mental disorder are now a rational way to cope with a formidable infection. The obsessive washing of one’s hands, once a sign of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, is now also a reasonable precaution. Fear of social contact with others is no longer a sign of an anxiety disorder; it is a reasonable way to practice “social distancing,” a term that would have previously carried negative psychological implications.

The ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, admonished that one cannot step into the same river twice because the perceptual world cast in space and time is in a perpetual state of flux; and he was correct. But the rate of change has now outstripped the human readiness to cope. Mainstream psychology is temporarily out of commission because it cannot address the deeper questions that are driving many of us to feel depressed and anxious about virtually everything in this altered state of reality. It is of little help to diagnose a client with a mood disorder when there is an inescapable reality that is driving the “disorder.”

The problem arises because clinical psychology as practiced today has strayed from its ancestral roots; for it is a child of philosophy, first investigated by the ancient Greek philosophers. Now it may need to return to these philosophical roots to address the “new normal.” “What is the meaning of life?” “What is happiness?” “What is a society?” “What is reality?” “What is truth?” “What authority does to the state have to restrict personal liberty?” These are perennial philosophical questions the answers to which may hold the key to both our sanity and survival.

“The virus is a ‘plandemic’ propagated by drug companies to enforce ‘globally mandated vaccines’.” This is now a burgeoning belief. However, it cannot be addressed by treating a mentally disordered mind inclined toward paranoid ideation. Instead, it is a claim that may more usefully be addressed by addressing the perennial question of what it means to know something. Is there evidence to back up this conspiracy theory? Because one is afraid of something does not make it true.

“The government does not have the right to tell us to wear masks, practice social distancing, or self-quarantine.” This is a question that goes to the heart of where state authority ends and personal liberty begins. Indeed, good “bibliotherapy” here might be to read the works of great philosophers such as John Stuart Mill’s famous treatise, “On Liberty.”

How can we be self-actualized as human beings living in social isolation from others? Can interaction with others in cyberspace fill the void? Is cyberspace even “real” space? Aristotle proclaimed human beings to be “social animals” while Thomas Hobbes held that human beings were rather antisocial. Jean-Paul Sartre said that human beings define their own individual natures through their actions. Indeed, exposing clients to the thoughts of such great minds might be a healthy way for psychologists to help them work through issues related to such profoundly complex philosophical questions.

Psychology, as conventionally practiced, does not grapple with such questions; so it is now in crisis, afloat in an unchartered sea of philosophical questions it has spent its development as a science trying to escape; but only to have placed its faith in a reality that has run aground in the tide of Heraclitus.

“Maybe it will soon be over like a bad dream or nightmare, and we can all resume where we left off; where everything is pretty much status quo.” This may indeed be what many of us are privately hoping will happen. But is this truly what we should be telling ourselves? That unless we can resume business as usual, the prospects of true happiness are forever gone?

As a philosophical counselor, I have been hard at work coaching my clients to look at the world without such a preconception. The challenge is to forge ahead, courageous, and open to a changing reality. A global pandemic may be the beginning of alteration in the fabric of sensory reality. Global warming may bring with it other challenges for which we would do well to prepare, rather than to live in denial.

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The deeper problem may not be the pandemic but rather the human propensity to seek comfort in the old for fear of accepting the new. Human history is peppered with the silencing of those with different perspectives about the nature of reality. The key cognitive dysfunction here lies in this insidious demand for permanence, something that Buddhism’s First Noble Truth has long admonished against. Pain is inevitable, but not the distress we create for ourselves by attempting to cling to what is, by its nature, impermanent.

Looking at the changing world, instead, as a challenge to develop one’s character, enhance one’s knowledge, and help others, can help us get past the hurdle of narrow self-interest that perpetuates a jaundiced perspective on reality.

In the end, I teach my clients and students that overcoming their perfectionistic demand for permanence involves aspiring to reach a higher plane of “metaphysical security.” The latter is the mother of all virtues: the acceptance of reality despite, and indeed, because of its imperfections. This means being comfortable living in a world in which you cannot be certain that there will be an effective vaccine in the near future against COVID 19, although there may be. It means accepting that there is no assurance you will not contract the virus no matter how many precautions you take. It means accepting emotionally as well as intellectually that you cannot control reality by defying it, burning your mask, or declaring it a nice day for a parade amid a gathering of thousands. It means grasping that reality is what it is, and that this is just what it should be, namely, what it is!

I have spent the last several weeks of my life consulting with hospitals about what to do if the surge of needy patients outstrips the supply of medical resources such as ventilators. Satisfactory answers to the questions raised in this context are far from perfect. Not everyone will receive the life support they need to survive. This is not what any of us want; but reality does not always mean that we get what we want. Life is not without regrets, but moral perfection is not an option.

Loss of life surrounds us as the death toll increases. The regrettable nature of not being able to be with a loved one who has been hospitalized and may be in serious, even life-threatening condition, should not be understated. This is an opportunity to empathize with others in such unfortunate circumstances, to come together in solidarity as a global community of ends in themselves, not as black, white, or brown; or as gay, straight, male, female, or intersex. Finding meaning in these difficult situations is not easy, but it is precisely because of its challenge that it attains it worth.

“Great suffering ennobles,” spoke Nietzsche, for one has seen worlds that others have not, and hence knows far more. Each of us have now seen a side of life that others before us may not have seen. Are we not the wiser for it?

Accepting the challenges, courageously going forward, whether you are on the front lines of healthcare, researcher, grocery store worker, delivery person, sanitation worker, teacher, student, or other, there is opportunity to make valuable contributions, find new meanings in your endeavors, and help others. The old reality may or may not reemerge. But even if it does, you will have the experience to meet it with enlightenment you may never have before conceived. Opening up one’s mind to the vast array of possibilities that exist in the midst of a global pandemic, welcoming the opportunity for growth, is a good thing. One need not await—demand—return to what is “normal” to appreciate life.

Such is where philosophy can help psychology in helping its clients to confront the “new normal.” In this pandemic era, the very identity of psychology as a helpful discipline may depend on its willingness to take a deeper dive into the philosophical traditions from which it emerged. Otherwise its techniques for diagnosing and treating mental disorders may be sterile attempts to rescue forlorn travelers of life from the questions that truly keep them up at nights. These are profound, philosophical questions that may require more than a passing gloss or lip service to those who desperately seek answers at this pivotal time in human civilization.