Psychology – finding answers for our times

The Covid-19 pandemic is not over. Many people are still suffering from the consequences of their Covid illness. Many are contracting the disease again, albeit often with milder symptoms. Pandemic times have brought challenge and change – for people, and for psychology as a science and profession.

On the whole, psychology has managed remarkably well. It has developed and strengthened special competencies as a science and profession: virtual work, advising politicians, influencing the formation of public opinion, using social media, quickly setting up empirical studies and meta-analyses, outreach to groups that were particularly neglected during the pandemic, volunteering in all areas where no common services were available.

Once again, through this effort, psychology shows its commitment to human rights and the promotion of a life in freedom and self-determination. At the same time, the social and societal aspects, as well as the conditions of the physical environment, are coming into focus. For the time after the pandemic, we must further develop and sustain these achievements. In this way, these newly acquired competencies can be used for appropriate responses to climate change as well as for developing the resilience and health of individuals, groups and communities.

Crisis and permacrisis

Whether we look at the world of work, the sciences, or society in general, we encounter talk of crisis. Of course, crises require critical reflection on the situation, an analysis of resources and an evaluation of the various ways out of a crisis. The pandemic has affected people in all their life relations, and talk of the 'time after the pandemic' is almost hopeful. Incidence rates still vary from country to country, and the virus may become more prevalent again in the future (e.g. Johns Hopkins University, 2023). The long-term consequences of severe Covid illnesses also remind us that the pandemic is not behind us (Karayianni et al., 2022).

Yet psychology as a science and profession has proven to be remarkably resilient during the pandemic. Rarely has psychology been in such demand: scientists have been able to provide answers to pressing questions about coping with illness, lockdown, and other stresses. Practicing colleagues provided a wide variety of services, and did so virtually. Psychology was available at all levels, from the individual to the community and to political leaders. And it was available to all people across the lifespan (Steinebach, 2022b). Psychology has every reason to be confident and proud. It seems that psychology learned more during the pandemic than other professions. However, we also run the risk of not being able to sustainably secure the successes and falling back to the status quo before the pandemic.

However, confidence is by no means shared by all experts. Instead of 'post-crisis', there is talk of 'permacrisis' – short-, medium- and long-term risks overlap, and important strategies and options for action no longer seem to be effective (Tharoor, 2023). The world seems more complex and fragile. Even the World Economic Forum has to conclude that striking answers such as 'liberal competition in social responsibility' no longer do justice to the urgent issues related to war, climate change, energy crisis, inflation, hunger, political instability and the growing gap between rich and poor (cf. Hegenbart, 2017).

In its factsheet on the fifth Living Working and Covid-19 Survey (Ahrendt et al., 2022), Eurofound points out that well-being is not at the level of that before the pandemic; that young people in particular were affected by the restrictions; that health care is inadequate in many places; that the energy crisis is bringing further financial burdens ('energy poverty'); that many people have lost their trust in institutions, with social media playing a special role in that; and that many were not able to sustainably secure the learning successes from virtual work and the time of home office and are now working exclusively at their actual workplace again as before the pandemic.

In addition, we must assume that problems of finding one's bearings in this world, and the polarisation of attitudes, have increased. We encounter contradictory positions in discussions about gender and diversity, about the future of globalisation, about ways to achieve climate neutrality, about the future of work, about the appropriate design of life in cities, about the equitable distribution of energy, about access to information and the security of personal data (Stevens, 2007; Black & Walsh, 2021). And even if the knowledge, experience and opinion of psychologists was in demand during the pandemic, it was by far from appreciated by everyone. It is a strength of psychology that it sought and still seeks a real dialogue, e.g. with vaccination opponents or conspiracy theorists, even when that is challenging: for a few, psychology is part of the evil and not part of the solution.

Goals in uncertain times

According to the APA's Trends Monitor for 2023, psychology has every good reason to be proud. As a science and profession, we can present ourselves with a positive identity – we have succeeded in positively influencing many people, particularly on the issue of vaccination. In the same way, psychologists have made an important contribution in dealing competently with misinformation. According to the Trends Monitor, psychological research has become more inclusive in its methods as well as in its topics. Psychology also contributes to greater equity and diversity, it says.

It makes an important contribution to promoting the well-being of employees, especially in times when the demands on workers have changed dramatically. At the same time, psychology has developed strategies for working with other professions to provide important impetus for policy. This is the case, for example, when it comes to child welfare. And many are contributing against burnout in and after the pandemic (see also Schwartzkopff et al., 2022 on 'burnon' rather than burnout). Psychology uses innovative methods, such as mental health apps for children. And it uses these and other media and strategies to reach people beyond the face-to-face setting.

All in all, we can say psychology has found the appropriate answers for the times. Creatively and innovatively, it promotes resilience and well-being of individuals, groups and organizations at different levels and in different contexts. In doing so, it contributes to social security, inclusion, and societal solidarity – important challenges in the time of a pandemic.

Before we can address exactly how psychology has been able to accomplish this, we must ask how psychology has developed in the field of tension between profession, organisation, and society. In doing so, we can assume that this development has been less goal-oriented than need-oriented. For example, Burns (2019, p.65) makes clear that 'professions, along with many other important social phenomena, are importantly emergent in what they are and how they come into being. Professions are made up as they go along.'

In the following, we want to assume that this emergence follows processes as we know them from adaptively self-optimising systems (Steinebach, 2022). The quality of the performance of the individual system elements and their connections ensures successful assimilation and accommodation (Brandtstädter, 2006). From this systems theory perspective, the changes in the profession and science of psychology during the pandemic are just that: expressions of successful adaptation in terms of assimilation and accommodation. Now, if the post-pandemic period succeeds depends on whether this successful adaptation turns out to be sustainable.

Innovative solutions

I'm not saying psychology only 'got going' when dealing with the pandemic. Even before that, our discipline was confronted with very fundamental challenges. This ever-growing body of knowledge and diversity of expertise is proving to be a fundamental challenge to the unity of psychology.

This diversity and complexity suggest a need for focus. Content and the importance of other psychologies outside the usual subject canon or competency profile are quickly neglected. Moreover, it is becoming apparent that more and more psychological competencies play an important role in other professions as well, including the ethics and quality of empirical research as the foundation of evidence-based practice (for example, Schönbrodt et al., 2017). Criticism of the lack of replicability of psychological studies has led to intensive efforts to improve the quality of psychological research (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2019). Certainly, objectivity, reliability, and validity of data and findings continue to be considered important standards.

However, greater emphasis is now placed on data availability, transparency, and the particular responsibility of researchers to ensure a flawless research process from concept development to publication and data storage. It is important to ensure that we can all trust the research results. Allegations of plagiarism have caused massive uncertainty in the scientific world. Added to this is the possibility that scientific texts may no longer be elaborated by scientists but constructed via artificial intelligence (for example, Saghafian, 2023). Artificial intelligence is testing and massively challenging the quality of psychological research (Youyou, Yang & Uzzi, 2023).

Those are the special dynamics of the post-Covid era too: short-term crisis, long-term challenges, and many interactions between the two. Digitisation can serve as an example. The processes for virtual work began long before the pandemic, and the question of how digital media can be used to support people with mental health problems was discussed (for example, for children and adolescents: Luxton et al., 2011). But the pandemic has massively supported and accelerated this development (for example van Daele et al., 2022). Many services have been shifted into the virtual space, and recommendations for competent handling of digital counselling and therapy have been worked out under high pressure.

This shows that an important prerequisite for the process of adaptation is checking reality and one's own perception against each other – if necessary, experiences then have to be corrected. Early experiences and current motives can lead to maladaptation. Thus, it is a strength of psychology that it pointed out the special stresses for children and adolescents and families in the lockdown early on during the pandemic. Early services were developed to address the threat of violence in particularly stressed families. Likewise, psychology provided important assistance to counter conspiracy theories and vaccination refusal (Pummerer et al., 2022). All of this has been done with explicit reference to relevant empirical research and psychological theories.

The direct and rapid action taken in dealing with the pandemic also makes it clear that practice can provide an important impetus for empirical research and theory building. For example, the need for virtual counselling services has led to intense reflection on the practice, ethics, and methodology of digital counselling and therapy. The environmental model of psychology has also changed. The environmental conditions of work, housing, and neighbourhoods in the community during lockdown have been widely discussed and studied. The social and physical environment comes into even sharper focus with the pandemic (Rudert et al., 2022). And even more so than before, psychology appears to be a human rights profession with a special responsibility to promote a life of freedom and self-determination. This is reflected in the commitment to low-threshold and therefore also free psychological services for all people who need help (for example, Chadwick et al., 2022; World Economic Forum, 2023b).

Outlook

As the pandemic has affected all areas of life in society, psychologists of all stripes have had to contribute (e.g., Haas, 2021). This has once again brought to light the need for diversity of disciplines, and both breadth and depth of competencies in studies and practice. Thus, the pandemic has strengthened the competency profile of psychology. This learning and development success should be maintained for the post-pandemic period.

The pandemic demonstrated in a special way what is important in life. The focus on values and basic needs in the development and provision of psychological services makes psychology connectable to dialogue with other professions and sciences. But also, the dialogue within the psychological disciplines has been strengthened (Steinebach, 2022b).

The pandemic made rapid, effective, and professionally qualified action necessary. To ensure this, the exchange of information between psychological associations significantly intensified during the pandemic. Various international networks and initiatives were used to share information, develop new services, and make them available nationally and internationally to professional colleagues, policymakers, and interested members of the public (such as Global Psychology Alliance, 2022).

In the initial confrontation with the pandemic and its many psychosocial consequences, psychologists often worked on a voluntary basis. They developed new services without knowing whether they would ever receive compensation for them. Psychology has responded here with creative flexibility to a problem situation that stands for resilience in a special way. In the post-Covid era, the challenge now will be to safeguard this creative innovation and to adapt the standards and regulations for funding psychological services to the now significantly increased need (Kim et al., 2022). At the association level as well as individually, the pandemic period was a time of solidarity in action.

I believe that our experiences in dealing with the pandemic have changed psychology's image of itself and of others. The new self-confidence is certainly justified. Society's positive view of psychology as a helper in a time of need, a reliable partner for other professions, and a competent advisor in the community and in politics, offers many opportunities. Our own look at the development of psychology over the last 100 years points to very good learning opportunities. Resources are evident here that have helped us deal appropriately with the pandemic and that will help us make the post-Covid era sustainable. We should use these resources to be creative, innovative, and evidence-based to positively influence societal change in a sustainable way.

- Prof. Dr. Christoph Steinebach is the Director School of Applied Psychology and Director Institute of Applied Psychology, ZHAW Zürich University of Applied Sciences. Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

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