How can ordinary people contribute to the fight against the epidemic? Make good use of one ability

Author: Zhao Qing, Zhang Libo, Hu Li (Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

The article comes from the Science Academy official account (ID: kexuedayuan)

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Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese people and Chinese people around the world have shown a spirit of sharing honor and disgrace, and supporting each other in times of difficulty, which has shocked people at home and abroad, and made many people sigh at the unity of the Chinese people. In this unity, we see a lot of shadows of empathy.

"We are together" public welfare poster to fight the epidemic (author: Elin)

What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability to feel and understand other people’s emotions[1]. Empathy is everywhere in life: when we see someone crying, we can’t help but feel sad too; when we hear someone laughing, we feel their joy; when we see someone grimacing, we understand why they are so angry.

Empathy is not a product of modern people, nor is it limited to emotional exchanges between people. Ancient Chinese books have recorded stories about empathy. Huangdi Neijing: Suwen records that after seeing the pain of a patient, Huangdi said: "I think of his pain, and my heart is confused." Zhuangzi: Qiushui records that Zhuangzi and Huizi were walking on a bridge, and Zhuangzi looked at the fish in the water and said: "The carp swims leisurely, which is the joy of fish."

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vast majority of people can understand the frontline workers and people in the locked-down areas and choose to stay at home. Every day, on social media, some people convey strength, some convey emotion, and some convey sadness. Because of empathy, we firmly believe when we see strength, we shed tears when we see emotion, and we feel the same when we see sadness.

The positive effects of empathy

Academician Zhong Nanshan in an interview (Photo source: Tencent News)

Empathy is an important bridge for emotional communication between people[1]. Through empathy, people can not only understand the other person's thoughts and feelings through language or text, but also resonate with the other person's emotions and understand the other person's thoughts through the other person's facial expressions and body movements. Studies have found that empathy allows us to "feel the same as others": empathy directly activates the areas of the brain related to emotional control and expression[2]; when we see the emotional faces of others, our brains have already begun to process information related to emotions[3]; and when we see the pain of others, our brains react as if we ourselves were stimulated by pain[4].

Empathy has played a lot of positive roles in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early days of the fight against the pandemic, a small number of people went out frequently and attended gatherings regardless of the overall situation. However, when Academician Zhong Nanshan tearfully asked everyone to stay at home and cut off the route of infection, thousands of families began to regard "staying at home" as a mission. When we saw that the medical workers on the front line of the fight against the pandemic had their cheeks worn out by N95 masks, we felt the pain of the "most beautiful retrogrades", and more and more people began to call for the most needed protective materials to be sent to the front line! When it was learned that the elderly Chinese on the Diamond Princess were anxious due to the lack of regular medicines, the head of the Chinese Embassy in Japan immediately contacted the Japanese side and finally delivered the medicines in time, which attracted the Hong Kong compatriots on the ship to sigh: "We are proud to be Chinese because we have the support of our powerful motherland when we encounter difficulties abroad."

On the other hand, lack of empathy has also caused a series of social problems: for example, some people spread rumors online, causing panic; did not comply with national home quarantine regulations and insisted on attending gatherings, increasing the risk of the spread of the epidemic; refused to wear masks correctly and clashed with administrators, etc. If the parties can make good use of empathy and think about problems from the perspective of others, the above social problems may be avoided.

Too much empathy is as bad as too little

However, the role of empathy is not always positive. Academician Zhong Nanshan said: "I believe in this sentence: half of health is mental health, and half of illness is mental illness."

Calligraphy: Zhao Gang

Excessive empathy may cause us psychological burden, which may lead to empathy avoidance behavior. Studies have found that when ordinary people empathize, they will produce two components: "beneficial empathy" and "harmful empathy" [5]. "Beneficial empathy" will encourage people to care about others, take care of them, and be willing to help others; while "harmful empathy" will make people feel painful and start to care about their own gains and losses. Therefore, individuals with serious "empathy pain" problems will become more selfish and often avoid empathy in order to reduce their inner pain [5].

In addition, there is a psychological problem called "excessive empathy syndrome" [6]. People with excessive empathy problems tend to be overly sensitive to changes in other people's emotions. They often let their emotions be controlled by external information and become unstable. Excessive negative emotions bring many negative effects to people's daily lives (such as stress and poor sleep), which in turn reduces the body's immunity. In addition, people with excessive empathy problems have a compulsive consciousness of "helping others". They are very likely to provide help to others from their own perspective. If the other party ignores or does not appreciate it, they are often prone to feeling rejected and frustrated, which leads to interpersonal tension or other social psychological problems.

How to use empathy?

We are currently in a critical period of fighting the epidemic. What we need most is a clear mind, a strong will and a healthy body. Here are seven suggestions to help you use empathy correctly and reduce psychological pressure.

First, do what you can. We should have a correct understanding of our empathy, psychological endurance, and ability to relieve psychological stress, and adjust the corresponding empathy behavior according to our specific circumstances.

Second, try to avoid watching disaster information first thing in the morning. People will remember the information they learn first thing in the morning very deeply, so seeing negative information early in the morning may affect your mood for the whole day.

Third, try to avoid watching disaster information before going to bed. On the one hand, watching disaster information before going to bed can easily cause insomnia. On the other hand, because people's brain cognitive processing functions are in a resting state after falling asleep, they cannot properly process the newly received disaster information, which may cause nightmares or unexplained panic.

Fourth, try to avoid watching disaster information when you are extremely hungry. The brain may misinterpret the physiological reactions such as palpitations caused by hunger as panic and fear caused by disaster information, thus causing unnecessary psychological confusion.

Fifth, do aerobic exercise appropriately. Aerobic exercise can help people improve their mood. Practicing Ba Duan Jin is a good choice. Ba Duan Jin has the functions of softening muscles and strengthening bones, nourishing qi and strengthening strength, promoting qi and blood circulation, and coordinating the five internal organs. Initial studies have also shown that practicing Ba Duan Jin has a certain effect on preventing and treating new coronary pneumonia.

Medical staff and patients practice Ba Duan Jin together (Photo source: Tencent News)

Sixth, communicate with your family and friends in a timely manner. Cook a good meal for your family, have a heart-to-heart talk with your family, write an email to your relatives and friends whom you haven't seen for a long time, and communicate your thoughts with your family and friends in a timely manner. You may find that many of your worries and pains will disappear in the communication.

Seventh, divert your attention appropriately and at the right time. Practice calligraphy, learn painting, or pick up a book you have always wanted to read but have never had the time to read. Find happiness and enjoy tranquility from these activities.

Conclusion

In short, we should play the positive role of empathy, unite and fight the epidemic; avoid paying too much attention to negative information and avoid the psychological burden caused by excessive empathy. At this moment, put down your mobile phone, turn off your computer, make a cup of tea, and open a book. You may be surprised to find that your troubles, anxiety, and depression may slowly disappear. Creating a paradise for your soul and making full preparations for the resumption of work and school may be what we need to do most at this stage.

Main references:

1. Ren Qiaoyue, Sun Yuanmiao, Lü Xuejing, Huang Chao, Hu Li, Research on empathy from a psychophysiological perspective: methods and characteristics. Chinese Science Bulletin, 2019(22).

2.Fan, Y., NW Duncan, M. de Greck, G. Northoff, Is there a core neural network in empathy? An fMRI based quantitative meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2011. 35(3): p. 903-911. 9.

3.Carr, L., M. Iacoboni, M.-C. Dubeau, JC Mazziotta, GL Lenzi, Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: A relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003. 100(9): p. 5497-5502. 6.

4. Meng Jing, Shen Lin, Lü Zhenyong, Yang Zhou, Chen Hong, Todd, Jackson. The consistency effect of pain representation between self and others. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 2012. 44(11): p. 1515-1522. 8.

5. Zhao, Q., DL Neumann, Y. Cao, S. Baron-Cohen, C. Yan, RCK Chan, DHK Shum, Culture–sex interaction and the self-report empathy in Australians and Mainland Chinese. Frontiers in Psychology, 2019. 10: p. 396. 9.

6. Dong Yu, Excessive empathy syndrome hurts others and yourself. Healthy Home, 2018. 10.