In the research paper "Psychosocial Reactions to Plagues in the Cultural History of Medicine: A Medical Humanities Approach," Moritz Wigand, Thomas Becker, and Florian Steger chose three landmark descriptions of plagues from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the 20th century to analyze common human responses to these events. Using a narrative inquiry, the authors found psychosocial reactions to be complex and ambivalent and could discern several coping strategies. They propose that this knowledge can help psychiatrists and other healthcare professionals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference: Wigand, Moritz E., Becker, Thomas, Steger, Florian. "Psychosocial reactions to plagues in the cultural history of medicine: A medical humanities approach." The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease vol. 208 issue 6 (June 2020): 443–444.
Knowing psychosocial reactions to plagues (in a broad sense of the word) of the past can help to understand and predict those reactions today. Knowing coping mechanisms to plagues can help to find coping mechanisms today. This means that the knowledge gained by our research can help medical professionals but also governments to inform programmes dealing with psychosocial reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Explore the Humanities pathways that led to this project
Ulm, Germany