The Psychology of Pandemics - Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease by Steven Taylor (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2019)
Published only weeks before the outbreak of Covid-19, the title of this volume seems almost too good to be true – suggesting a handbook for governments in dealing with the current crisis, to get us to the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic with our mental well-being intact. Written by Steven Taylor, a clinical psychologist specialising in anxiety disorders with a practice in Vancouver and a Professorship at the University of British Columbia, our expectations could well be just that.
Reading “The Psychology of Pandemics” as a UK citizen with no first-hand experience of pandemics, their terminology or the measures employed to control them, this book seems prophetic in its foretelling of the situations we now find ourselves in. Just seeing the phrase “social distancing” in the table of contents confirmed the author’s prescience, with further evidence being added by his coverage of subjects including effects on the healthcare system, school closure, the spread of misinformation via social media, separation from family and friends, the effect on cultural practices such as funerals, social isolation due to quarantine or other social distancing programs, differing levels of economic effects and conspiracy theories.
The bulk of this short volume is built on a carefully sewn patchwork of quotes from other writers on previous pandemics, starting with the most famous - the Bubonic Plague, peaking in 1346- 1353 and recurring sporadically up to 1667. In the past century alone there has been HIV / AIDS (1981 to present), Spanish flu (1918- 1920), Russian flu (1889-1890), Asian flu (1957- 1958), Hong Kong flu (1968-1969), a second Russian flu pandemic (1977-1978), Swine flu (2009-2010), and Zika virus (2015-2016). Other notable contenders – SARS, Ebola, Avian flu – have, mercifully, not reached pandemic proportions. For this alone, Taylor provides us with a concise and very readable primer on pandemics, and a thorough overview of the literature relating to them – the references section making up a quarter of the book.
Steven Taylor is not a biologist, historian, sociologist, or public health professional, so has made a major achievement in synthesising these and other disciplines with his own – psychiatry. The stated purpose of this volume is to fill an important gap in the literature on pandemics, with particular stress on psychological effects and implications for public health policy. As individuals living through the Covid-19 pandemic, the psychological effects are all too obvious to us. The latter part of this book can almost be read as a guide for governments to mitigate these effects, and, for example the UK’s NHS public information campaigns relating to mental well-being, would suggest the UK government have a copy of Dr. Taylor’s book in their back pocket.
Since the publication of “The Psychology of Pandemics” and the subsequent outbreak of Covid-19, Taylor has been in demand as a Covid-10 guru. He has been asked by the Canadian government to conduct research into self-isolation and its psychological impact. As well as toilet paper-seeking behaviour, he's also noticing another social phenomenon: people flouting meeting restrictions to attend pubs and coronavirus parties. So this time let’s learn the lessons from the pandemic and help protect the most vulnerable people in our society.
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