The disruption since the Covid-19 virus spread throughout the world has been the likes of which many have never experienced before.  It’s tempting to think it’s the kind of disruption that would take an awfully long time to recover from, but new research from the University of Maryland suggests that hasn’t been the case at all.  Indeed, the study suggests that society has found a new normalcy pretty quickly.

The immediate aftermath of the pandemic being declared saw home-schooling become the norm, people working from home en-masse, shortages of supplies in many stores, public transport limited, and social interactions hugely curtailed.  The research suggests that despite this huge disruption, people were pretty quickly able to adapt to the changes and meet the demands of the moment.

“Our psychological immune system is so effective that even though we have an ongoing, persisting stressor, we start to fix ourselves almost immediately,” the researchers say.

Adapting to change

Traditionally, we regard disruption as being caused by a stressor that knocks us from our stride, and we’ll only regain our composure again when that stressor has gone.  It’s a finding that this study suggests is not true at all, and that we can complete our psychological recovery even in the midst of a stressful experience.

The researchers surveyed a group of employees several times per day over a two week period to understand how they were experiencing the pandemic.  The study began in March as stay-at-home orders were initiated and schools were shut across the United States.  The researchers believe this glimpse into the earliest days of the crisis gives them a unique insight into our resilience to stressors.

The team focused on two particular markers of normalcy: powerlessness and authenticity.  At the start of the study, almost all participants felt incredibly powerless and inauthentic, but even over the relatively short timeframe of the research, this began to change and people would score better on both measures.  This transition occurred even as stress levels rose.

It suggests that people can establish a new normal far quicker than was previously thought, even in the midst of huge pressure and worry.

“The pace at which people felt normal again is remarkable, and highlights how resilient we can be in the face of unprecedented challenges,” the researchers say.

It’s a phenomenon that the researchers say was most pronounced in the most neurotic individuals.  People who were normally more nervous and anxious would often have the most extreme initial reaction to the stresses invoked by the pandemic, but would also recover at a faster rate.  It’s a finding the researchers suggest is due to neurotic people being more psychologically equipped to navigate stress.

“Contrary to a lot of the doom and gloom we’re hearing, our work offers a little bit of a ray of hope – that our psychological immune system starts working a lot faster than we think, and that we can start to feel ‘normal’ even while all of this is going on,” the researchers conclude.