Fostering the Reconstruction of Meaning Among the General Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has seen people in many countries asked to radically modify their way of life in compliance with sweeping safety measures. During the current crisis, technology is turning out to be key, in that it allows practitioners to deliver psychological services to people who would otherwise be unreachable. However, professionals cannot solely rely on their traditional modes of practice, in that different methods are required to bring to light the needs of those affected by the emergency. People are being overwhelmed by a cascade of unusual and unexpected events that are putting a strain on their everyday routines and usual meaning-making systems; ongoing challenges to their employment and financial status will likely divert personal resources away from psychological well-being. We therefore argue that psychologists should also consider the needs of the general population. Among those who may require help-aside from the main targets of psychological intervention, such as healthcare personnel and COVID-19 patients and their relatives-specific attention should be paid to those who are not at the center of the crisis. We suggest that this large segment of potential users may benefit from a non-medical approach focused on the promotion of meaning-making processes. Indeed, the disruptive nature of the current situation hinders sense-making and threatens to undermine psychological balance and well-being, at an individual as well as at a societal level. The present article proposes a methodological perspective based on the reconstruction of meaning-making processes (sense of coherence, predictability, metaphors, narratives). Specifically, psychological interventions should promote personal and collective resources with a view to: "normalizing" current distressful experiences (i.e., acknowledging that such reactions are normal in light of the present situation); widening the observational field, taking relational contexts into account, and promoting an understanding of distressful experiences as coping strategies; fostering meaning-making/reconstruction processes through the use of appropriate metaphors and narratives; promoting a sense of coherence. We present two clinical vignettes to illustrate how these principles might be applied in practice. In conclusion, the exceptional psychological challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic require practitioners to adopt a broad and flexible perspective on clinical intervention.

Hope and Resilience During a Pandemic Among Three Cultural Groups in Israel: The Second Wave of Covid-19

“…This aspect has been neglected in relation to other urgent issues, such as employment and economic and physical health. The allocation of resources including sense of coherence (Castiglioni and Gaj, 2020 ) for the improvement of existing mechanisms and strengthening the provision of mental-health services are critical tasks at this time.…”

Emotional distress, psychosomatic symptoms and their relationship with institutional responses: A survey of Italian frontline medical staff during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Institutions made efforts to protect citizens and to gather and develop the structural and technical resources needed to manage the health emergency (e.g. new doctors and nurses, hospital beds), but marginalised the psychological side of health ( Castiglioni and Gaj, 2020 ) and the impact on it of factors such as work and responsibility overload, grief over the death of patients, fear for their own health and that of their loved ones, and the dilemma of whether to apply for medical leave of absence, or to continue working during this critical period ( Li et al., 2020 ).…”

Individual and community psychological experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic: The state of emergency in Portugal

“…Indeed, the pandemic is being experienced by a significant number of individuals and communities, involving, for an indefinite period of time, serious challenges, not just for individuals, but also for families, communities, societies, governments and economies (Benight et al, 2010 ; Duan & Zhu, 2020 ; Hoffman & Kruczek, 2011 ; Raphael & Maguire, 2010 ; Venuleo et al, 2020 ). Moreover, psychosocial interventions targeting health promotion may need to focus on how individuals reconstruct their meaning of the world, in order to restore individual core beliefs, through processes of sense of coherence, predictability, metaphors, and narratives (Castiglioni & Gaj, 2020 ).…”

“…Social and emotional support have also been found to protect individuals from psychological suffering and distress and to promote well-being positive mental health outcomes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Pedrosa et al, 2020 ; Zysberg & Zisberg, 2020 ). Thus, both individual and community resources should enhance the acknowledgement of stress reactions as acceptable and valid reactions during distressful experiences such as the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting a sense of coherence that allows to restore meaning and the individual’s core beliefs system (Castiglioni & Gaj, 2020 ).…”