Pandemics

Authored By: McKay, D., Yang, H., Elhai, J., & Asmundson, G. J. G.

People are generally motivated to avoid sources of illness to protect themselves, especially during pandemics. This motivation is thought to drive the process by which people identify possible signs of illness and enable reactions that may lower risk of, or prevent, infection. Certain psychological characteristics may influence...

Authored by: Daniel Vigo, Scott Patten, Kathleen Pajer, Michael Krausz, Steven Taylor, Brian Rush, Giuseppe Raviola, Shekhar Saxena, Graham Thornicroft, and Lakshmi N. Yatham

Principal Investigators: Gordon J. G. Asmundson (University of Regina) and Steven Taylor (University of British Columbia)

COVID-19 arose in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and has rapidly spread throughout China and other parts of the world. For pandemics, such as COVID-19, psychological factors play a major role in the spreading and containment of infection. These individual factors help determine whether...

Authored By: Taylor, S. & Asmundson, G. J. G.

In the wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, people will be left reeling from the many stresses and losses caused by this global outbreak. While most people are expected to be resilient in the face of these challenges⎯with some even experiencing personal growth⎯a substantial minority are expected to struggle with their...

Authored By: Taylor, S., Landry, C. A., Paluszek, M. M., Fergus, T. A., McKay, D. & Asmundson, G. J. G. 

A pandemic, like the current COVID-19 outbreak, can have very different psychological effects on the people who experience this event. Some people may feel very afraid and anxious during the outbreak and struggle with distressing psychological symptoms like nightmares, unwanted...