Empathy
The Antidotes to Uncertainty: Structure and Empathy
Advice during the pandemic is constantly changing. How can we deal with changes?
Posted May 16, 2021 Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano
Key points
- Change is hard during a pandemic when we have become used to taking certain actions to safeguard our physical health.
- When advice changes around safeguarding, we can feel uncertain about whether this is the right course of action to take.
- The recent CDC advisory around mask-wearing is a big change. Many may need support to help them transition to new response phases.
It’s clear that we are going to have to live with continuing uncertainty about Covid-19. Even with vaccines and the world opening up again, virus variants mean that even places that have been successful in dealing with the coronavirus in the initial stages, such as Singapore and Taiwan, are coming under pressure again.
Nothing seems simple and certain. And that’s because it isn’t. And we can bet that there is more uncertainty to come.
Facing this brand of uncertainty is hard
The ground seems to be constantly shifting beneath us, the usual settings of our lives are disrupted, and there’s no firm endpoint in sight. Meanwhile, the pressures and stresses of life continue, or may even have been augmented by the times. Most of us still need to work, take care of family members or fulfill community obligations. Some of us will need to add in homeschooling again, financial stress, or health worries. Life goes on, even if the form has altered.
If we don’t have the option (or the desire) to hibernate until the complete threat of Covid-19 has passed, then our only choice is to keep on doing life as best we can. That’s why the most effective way to come through this pandemic with our well-being intact is to adjust our behaviour to meet the demands of the time. That means learning to influence our three internal systems intentionally so we can live well, safeguard our well-being, and continue to find joy and satisfaction even when we don’t know what’s around the corner.
When we learn to disengage our threat system, rooted in our amygdala and limbic system, we are no longer passively at the mercy of worry and uncertainty, and we don’t have to operate as if our lives are constantly in danger. There are many ways we can do this, such as dealing with our worries, and creating the conditions for more calm, and the ability to turn our flight-or-flight response down below threshold levels.
Once we influence our threat systems with more intentionality, we can pay attention to the broader structure of our lives, reducing our anxiety and uncertainty.
As we consciously engage our calming system, we can access the more creative and strategic facets of our minds to bring alternative solutions to bear — solutions which we cannot generate when we are frightened and dominated by uncertainty.
As we regain control, we can access our drive system, find our motivation and direction, and develop the skills to live well alongside uncertainty. Hope returns and we can entertain future possibilities that do not automatically fill us with existential dread.
As we learn to manage our internal systems of threat and calming well, there are two more factors that come into play.
Structure and empathy
Structure—such as rules, routines, and guidelines—can help us manage uncertainty, while empathy helps us accept and adapt to the structure, or smooths the path when structure alone is not enough. The psychological literature, and my personal experience supporting people through acute and prolonged periods of crisis, has taught me that people need a balance of both in order to stay well and perform well in uncertain environments.
This is also where we may need external help. Governments, leaders, and organisations can help us get through tough times, by providing simple structures to help us navigate our daily reality, and by delivering those structures with empathy for people’s lived experiences. It’s hard to adapt when we have been living life with one set of guidance, for example, about mask-wearing, and this changes at the flick of a switch. The weight of scientific evidence may have shifted, but simple on/off switches do not control people and their comfort with changes in behaviour. We are not digital beings: It can take time and support to shift to changes in our environment, when we have become used to keeping ourselves safe in particular ways.
Around the world, new structures for how we are with each other are being introduced on an almost daily basis—sometimes reducing the contact with each other, sometimes encouraging more freedom. Along with the structure, authorities should also have empathy and provide support for those who may be uncomfortable with change in either direction, and provide help so that we can address the twin goals of both safeguarding physical health and promoting the conditions to optimise flourishing lives once again.
Uncertainty and anxiety are popping up everywhere. Take steps to manage your mental health in these pandemic times.
