As the pandemic timeline lengthens, we’re thinking about both our physical and mental health. We’ve barely had a chance to process the COVID-19 pandemic that has up-ended every element of our lives, possibly for months and years to come. So what happens to our minds when we’re faced with a pandemic? Why do we panic buy and hoard items? How does fear of a virus turn into xenophobia and distrust of other people?

Today, Adrian Cheung talks to Dr. Steven Taylor, clinical psychologist from the University of British Columbia. He’s studied how people react in viral outbreaks for years and has published his research this past October in the book, “The Psychology of Pandemics,” where he presciently says that a pandemic is imminent. Taylor explains why we all react in similar ways and has ideas on how we can fight our worst primal impulses in a time of fear.

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