The Psychology of the Pandemics
Steven Taylor
In October 2019, Dr. Steven Taylor (University of British Columbia) published the timely and pioneering book The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the psychological reaction to pandemics and of the methods to address those reactions. It anticipated several issues that emerged in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreaks, from the behavioural and emotional phenomena to conspiracy theories and resistance to vaccination.
In this recent podcast interview for the Canadian Psychological Association, Dr. Taylor speaks about these issues, emphasising how the events caused by the coronavirus have unfolded in similar fashion to past pandemics (e.g. the Spanish flu in 1918), albeit in a global scale:
The psychological effects of the pandemic is something that pastors and other church leaders must be aware of as they seek to care for their faith communities. For this reason, Dr. Taylor was a guest lecturer in the Pastoral Care course at Regent College in the Winter Term 2021, as part of the Interface project “Engaging Science in Ministry Education.”
