Credit score: Unsplash/CC0 Public Area
Catastrophes, by definition, are devastating, however they’ll typically be catalysts for lasting, optimistic change—and if individuals can undertake that perspective, they could see some actual advantages, a Stanford-led examine suggests.
In a randomized, managed trial, a one-hour intervention was given to a bunch of adults designed to shift their mindset, or core beliefs and assumptions, about having lived via a disaster just like the COVID-19 pandemic, with the objective of seeing progress alternatives within the expertise.
Those that obtained the intervention confirmed decrease ranges of melancholy three months later in comparison with a management group. Blood exams additionally revealed decrease ranges of C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker linked to persistent stress and illness. The findings have been reported within the journal Mind, Habits, and Immunity.
“As much as we might wish to live untouched by trauma or catastrophe, the reality is that few of us are spared from such struggle,” mentioned Alia Crum, the examine’s senior writer and an affiliate professor of psychology within the Stanford College of Humanities and Sciences.
“The study was inspired by our desire to help people reflect on their experience of the pandemic with an eye on how it could help them grow.”
A balanced view
Crum’s group from the Stanford Thoughts & Physique Lab and their colleagues performed the examine from October 2022 to February 2023 with two teams of grownup members. The management group considered a sequence of movies with details about totally different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and answered questions to check their information. The intervention group considered a sequence of movies exhibiting that mindsets might be highly effective drivers of well being and well-being.
These movies additionally highlighted proof that folks typically develop in attribute methods because of dwelling via catastrophic experiences such because the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequent areas of progress embody creating a higher appreciation for all times, rising resilience, strengthening interpersonal relationships, deepening one’s non secular religion, and pursuing new alternatives that may not have in any other case been doable.
After viewing the movies, the intervention group members have been requested to replicate in writing on their present mindsets concerning the long-term impression of the pandemic and potential areas of progress they may pursue in their very own lives.
Cultivating a mindset will not be the identical as blind optimistic considering, the researchers emphasised, and members weren’t requested to disregard the pandemic’s destructive impacts.
“We tried to be very nuanced and balanced but also bring in the genuine, research-based evidence that there are specific positive changes that a lot of people do go through when they live through something like the pandemic,” mentioned Jesse Barrera, the examine’s co-first writer and former lab supervisor of the Thoughts & Physique Lab.
The truth is, earlier analysis by Crum’s group revealed that individuals who noticed the pandemic as a serious disaster in early 2020 have been truly extra more likely to additionally see it as holding some alternatives. This perception knowledgeable the intervention within the present examine.
The researchers themselves additionally discovered a chance from the pandemic expertise. They needed to conduct their examine remotely, which led to a brand new design the place members considered the movies at house and mailed in dried blood spot samples for testing.
“In a lot of ways, the methodology that we came up with for this study was actually only an opportunity because of COVID-19,” mentioned Lexi Straube, a Stanford medical pupil and co-first writer.
“This approach opens the door for more accessible strategies that can reach people during future public health crises or in communities that don’t have access to traditional clinical trials.”
Hope after disaster
Extra analysis is required to duplicate the findings with totally different teams of individuals, however the outcomes present hope for anybody who has skilled a difficult or traumatic life occasion, Crum mentioned.
“We would have liked to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it came regardless,” she mentioned. “In the post-pandemic era, we face a choice: We can let it recede into memory, leaving us depleted and disillusioned, or we can choose to look back, learn from it, and grow—both personally and collectively.”
Extra data:
Jesse A. Barrera et al, TEMPORARY REMOVAL: Can catastrophes be alternatives? A randomized medical trial testing a short mindset intervention for lowering irritation and melancholy following COVID-19, Mind, Habits, and Immunity (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2025.07.011
Offered by
Stanford College
Quotation:
Viewing catastrophes as progress alternatives linked to decrease melancholy and irritation (2025, August 26)
retrieved 26 August 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-08-viewing-catastrophes-growth-opportunities-linked.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any honest dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.
