Psychological Aspects In Time Of Pandemic

In principle the names bear no relation to the dates of the events, the damaging incidents themselves, or the most affected areas. Amongst them are English and Spanish names e.g. Barry, Gonzalo and they may be male or female e.g. Lorenzo, Laura. But does the name of a tropical cyclone have any impact upon the population?

An answer to this question has been sought by the Department of Administration and Business in conjunction with the Department of Psychology, the Institute of Communications Research, and the Women and Gender Surveys Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois; together with the Department of Statistics of Arizona State University (Jung, Shavitt, Viswanathan & Hilbe, 2014).

The study analysed the climatic consequences of hurricanes in the USA over the last six decades, differentiating between those with male and female names. The first finding was that those with female names had been the most destructive and the cause of most deaths.

It should be remembered that the list of names is preassigned and their assignment organised consecutively, so a priori there is no relationship between the gender of the name and the intensity of the hurricane. A list of hurricane names, 5 male and 5 female were given to 346 participants for them to rate the considered extent of each hurricane’s intensity on a Likert-type scale from 1 – 7. The results showed that male-named hurricanes tend to be evaluated as more destructive than female-named hurricanes, regardless of each participant’s gender.

This study made it possible to understand why, in the face of warnings from the authorities, sometimes more and sometimes fewer preventative measures tend to be taken. It is, in fact, simply due to whether the hurricane’s assigned name is male or female.

In contrast, the designation of diseases within the health field are usually indicated by an acronym which relates to certain identifying characteristics of its location, symptoms or consequences.

There have previously been several outbreaks of the coronavirus strain, as in the case of SARS-CoV which emerged in China in 2002 and whose acronym corresponds to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, referring to its symptomology. The MERS-CoV virus emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and its initials refer to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, describing both its location and symptoms. The acronym for COVID-19, which emerged in China in 2019, refers to the Coronavirus disease of 2019, with no indication as to its symptoms or source.

It should be noted that COVID-19 was not the first name to be used in the identification of this disease, but it was a term introduced almost two months after the first case was reported to the WHO. This has led some to argue that the motivations for changing and assigning it an ‘official’ name, were done to avoid the negative consequences of associating a type of disease with a region or population (@radioskyl,2020) (See Illustration 8).

The aim here would be to eliminate the names of ‘China virus’ or ‘Wuhan virus’, terms which point directly to the source of the infection. Some health professionals denounce this deference towards China, since the same consideration has not been shown towards other populations, as in the case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, for instance.

As demonstrated in the previous section, despite the fact that an official name of COVID-19 has been assigned, the population has continued to use the terms ‘virus’ and more primarily ‘Coronavirus’ to find out about the symptoms, prevention measures and extent of this disease, and although it is still too early to understand the reason as to why the official name has ‘failed’, it must be taken into account that to create a new brand that is adhered to, a number of variables need to be taken into account, as

analysed by Taylor’s University in Malaysia (Pool, 2016).

Illustration 8. Tweet - Name of Covid-19

[Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the name of coronavirus has changed to COVID-19. An abbreviation of the disease that has caused the death of more than 1,000 people. The first vaccination “could be ready in 18 months”].

This research aimed to uncover the reasons for the success of certain brands versus the rest. To this end, a selection of fifty best-selling everyday products from the two main marketing companies was chosen in order to verify the brand’s effectiveness. After analysing the messages, pamphlets and publicity of the two brands circulated by the press and media networks, it was discovered, via the application of textual analysis and the interpretative method of research, that in order to maintain the loyalty of their customers, these brands underpin their foundations upon two principles The first principle is the ability to generate positive emotions, and the second the aesthetics of honesty, that is, that the product serves the purpose for which it is designed, whilst maintaining the advertised quality standards.

It should be mentioned at this point that the WHO, together with UNICEF, are the highest valued international agencies worldwide, according to the WIN/Gallup International Survey (WHO, 2014) which indicated that 72% of those interviewed had a positive opinion of these agencies. It would therefore have been expected that, by now, the search term ‘COVID-19’ would have been widely adopted. However, it must be taken into account that the announcement of the new name took place on 11th February (see Illustration 8) , whilst worldwide

concern began almost a month earlier, on 20

January.

Illustration 9. Tweet - Image of COVID-19

[The new coronavirus is called SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes is COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019)

There thus remains a tendency for the terms ‘virus’ or ‘Coronavirus’ to continue to be used (CSIC,2020) (See Illustration 9).

In the photo, virus of the family Coronaviridae, to which the new coronavirus belongs. (Photo taken by virologist Luis Enjanes (@CNB_CSIC)]

.

Adoption of Health Measures

One of the most difficult phenomena for people to face is in terms of the adoption of healthy behaviour, which requires some time to accept, understand and assume.

Unlike other phenomena such as the latest trends, which have the ability to motivate the population, when it comes to health, the authorities are often faced with minimal success in their awareness campaigns. Such campaigns aimed at the recommendation of the adoption of healthy habits and behaviour are usually accompanied by restrictions and even penalties for those who do not comply.

However, the population struggles to see any ‘benefits’ in the short term, resulting in a reduction in any ‘interest’ and motivation for the adoption of these new habits, to the extent they may not even carry them out at all, thus failing to comply with the authorities’ recommendations.

Whilst health is an aspect of concern to society, the concept of prevention is not always understood and accepted in the same way, especially when it comes to the adoption of some behaviours which tend to go against those which are customary (MinInteriorAR, 2020) (See Illustration 10).

Illustration 10. Tweet - Prohibited Activities

[Look after your health and your family’s. Always remember not to share your mate

, your utensils and other personal objects. Learn more at bit.ly/Coronavirus-Co ]\]

In the case of COVID-19, the population has been asked to ‘abandon’ some practices and adopt new ones. Going against ‘routine’, has made it difficult for many at first to adopt these recommended measures. This is because, sometimes, despite medical guidelines, the population does not acknowledge the risks to their health of certain behaviours, as previously mentioned. One such instance is in the practice of artificial tanning with UVA rays, an activity that has greatly increased in certain countries over recent years.

In some places being tanned has become something of a status symbol. One employee, having enjoyed a few days at the beach may return to work nice and brown, whilst the rest of the office, who have not been so lucky are still white and pale. On the contrary, in other places, being tanned is a sign of a lower social status, since the sun burns the skin of outside workers, giving it that characteristic brown colour, whilst other less manual jobs do not leave that ‘imprint’ on the body. It can therefore become a signal as to the economic status of the consumer, differentiating between those who can afford it and those who can’t.

In Western society today the first approach dominates, that is people feel good about themselves when tanned, something which takes time and in some cases money, to achieve. To meet this demand, a number of establishments have emerged, with UVA lamps which produce the same effect on the skin after one or more exposure sessions. And so, with this UVA ray system, the same tanned appearance is achieved as if one had gone on a relaxing beach holiday in the sun.

So, simply by spending a few minutes inside one of these devices, one can enjoy the ‘benefits’ of being

considered of a higher economic status.

Illustration 11. Tweet - Relation between UVA rays and cancer.

[UVA rays cause cancer]

Despite the popularity of this system, in recent years medical research has been compiled which has discovered associations between the excessive use of UVA rays and skin cancer. Therefore, people who use and, more importantly, abuse these tanning sessions are voluntarily putting themselves at risk to skin diseases (adgs125, 2019) (See Illustration 11).

An investigation has been carried out to assess the psychological impacts of the usage of UVA rays by the Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health; Medical Centre, Providence VA Medical Centre; and the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; together with Division of Network Medicine, Brigham Hospital; Department of Nutrition and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health; together with the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital; Department of Dermatology, Rhode Island Hospital (EE.UU.) together with the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, University of Peking (China) (Li et al., 2017).

The study involved 67,910 women between the ages of 25 and 35 who were asked regards the frequency with which they used UVA ray tanning rooms. The aim of the study was to determine if there was an association between frequent indoor tanning and other mental disorders such as food addiction. To this end the Yale Food Addiction Scale was used (Flint et al, 2014). The participants’ clinical history as to whether or not they had suffered from depression was also taken into account.

The results showed a significant relationship between the presence of depression and greater use of UV rays. Also demonstrated was a significant relationship between the abuse of UV rays and symptoms associated with eating disorders, particularly anorexia.

As with other activities, the use of this type of service may be considered normal, except when control is lost and it becomes an addiction, that is to say it is being undertaken for its own sake, rather than for the benefits it may bring. Such behavioural addiction to tanning is called tanorexia. In this instance, the depressive symptoms appear to play a fundamental role in the formation or maintenance of the addiction to UVA rays, as if the individual attempts to ‘offset’ their state of mind by giving a ‘better’ image of themself to others.

Previous research has reported significant relationships between food disorders and depressive symptoms, but in this instance the relationship is mediated by an addictive behaviour, such is the abuse of UVA rays.

According to the conclusions of the study, consideration must be taken with individuals who abuse the use of UVA rays, since it may constitute depressive symptomatology and the suffering of anorexia.

Despite these findings, and the health problems associated with skin cancer discussed earlier, people find it difficult to give up this type of habit, since the short-term benefits of a tanned skin mean any long-term health damage is underestimated.

This type of attitude may also be witnessed in the undertaking of other unhealthy habits or those that entail long-term damage, where the consumer ‘assumes’ the risk, focussing on the short-term benefits, despite warnings from the authorities. For instance, for some years governments around the world have been trying to stop tobacco use. Furthermore, the authorities have had to ‘fight’ against the portrayal of this habit in films and the media where, in recent decades it was seen as socially accepted, despite the harmful effects on the health of the consumer and the people around them, in what is known as passive smoking (@CNPT_E, 2017) (See Illustration 12).

Existing measures tend to act in a dissuasive manner by putting all kinds of obstacles in the way of its consumption, stopping short of prohibition. Its display is limited to certain specially designed areas, the price is increased, and images are included on the packs of the negative health effects. However, some governments have decided to take a step further and employ the same mechanisms that for years served to spread and encourage tobacco use - television advertising. But are anti-tobacco

advertisements effective?

Illustration 12. Tweet – Prohibition of Tobacco Advertising.

[ The #EmpaquetadoNeutro removes the advertising from tobacco and helps to reduce the prevalence of smoking in Spain]