The Role of Psychological Distancing in Mitigating Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Strong self-isolation measures and border restrictions are necessary to reduce the spread of the novel Coronavirus COVID-19 but carry a potentially devastating psychological cost. Past viral outbreaks, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, have been linked to increased mental health problems for those in self-isolation (Hawryluck et al., 2004; Reynolds et al., 2008), health care workers (Brooks et al., 2018), and those who acquire the virus (Gardner et al., 2014; Kwek et al., 2006; Mak et al., 2009). A similar increase in psychological distress has been observed in Chinese communities during the early stages of the current Covid-19 pandemic (Qiu et al., 2020). Accessible and efficacious mental health interventions are needed to minimize the pandemic’s widespread psychological impact. During SARS, differences in how people appraised the pandemic led to differences in wellbeing. Focusing on pandemic-related dysfunction was linked to higher levels of psychological distress (Cheng et al., 2006a; Cheng et al., 2004) whereas focusing on growth and coping ability was linked to lower levels of depression and anxiety (Cheng et al., 2006a; Cheng & Wong, 2005). Importantly, the healthiest people showed a balanced, decentered perspective: they considered both pandemic costs and coping opportunities, leading to greater acceptance of perceived costs (Cheng et al., 2006b; Liu et al., 2012), greater levels of well-being (Cheng et al., 2006b), and decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms (Liu et al., 2012). While ideally people would naturally take a balanced perspective on pandemic-related dysfunction, it is difficult to do so when distress promotes reacting to experiences from a self-immersed, first-person perspective (Kross & Ayduk, 2017). Conversely, psychological distancing (PD) promotes decentering, the ability to view experiences from a wider perspective (Ayduk & Kross, 2018). Greater levels of decentering may allow a person to keep track of goals and values rather than focusing entirely on the emotional stress of the situation. This perspective may facilitate decision making guided by core values and contribute to adaptive self-reflection (Ayduk & Kross, 2010; Kross & Ayduk, 2017; Kross & Ayduk, 2011; Trope & Liberman, 2010). Two forms of PD are commonly discussed: (1) self-distancing: reflecting on events from the perspective of an outside observer; and (2) temporal distancing: reflecting on events from the perspective of a different point in time (Ayduk & Kross, 2018). Despite the general efficacy of these PD strategies, it is unknown whether PD training is effective in mitigating the adverse effects of pandemic-related dysfunction. However, a large body of evidence has linked PD to greater levels of well-being (Bruehlman-Senecal et al., 2016; Ranney et al., 2017), lower levels of negative affect and rumination (Ayduk & Kross, 2018), reductions in psychological distress and avoidance (Penner et al., 2016), lower levels of depressive symptoms (Ayduk & Kross, 2018), increases in emotion regulation (Shahane & Denny, 2019), greater levels of positive affect, and enhanced meaning in life (Wang et al., 2019). Importantly, one-day of PD training implemented during the Ebola outbreak was associated with reduced worry and risk perception (Kross et al., 2017). Therefore, PD training has been found to be a promising candidate effective coping strategy, especially for those experiencing high levels of negative affect and worry (Kross et al., 2017; Naragon-Gainey & DeMarree, 2017). However, this regulation strategy has never been validated for widespread implementation in the face of a global pandemic. As such, the goal of the proposed clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of online PD training for enhancing well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic. Two candidate PD strategies will be investigated: (1) self-distancing: reflecting on events from the perspective of an outside observer; and (2) temporal distancing: reflecting on events from the perspective of a different point in time (Ayduk & Kross, 2018). These two strategies will be compared against a self-immersion control condition: reflecting on events from a first-person perspective. References Ayduk, Ö., & Kross, E. (2010). From a distance: Implications of spontaneous self-distancing for adaptive self-reflection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences, 98(5), 809–829. http://dx.doi.org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1037/a0019205 Ayduk, Ö., & Kross, E. (2018). Self-distancing: Basic mechanisms and clinical implications. 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