A Stoic Approach to Understanding a Pandemic

For the destruction of understanding is a pestilence, much more indeed than any such corruption and change of this atmosphere which surrounds us.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IX

Stoicism introduced to the world the idea that perception is reality. But Stoics did not forget that reality is reality, too, and that we all should strive to understand reality for what it is.

Marcus Aurelius, Ancient Greece’s most famous philosopher-king, ruled the Roman Empire throughout the Antonine Plague of 165-180 AD — a pandemic so severe it may have changed the course of Roman history.

During this pandemic, Aurelius wrote what would become his Meditations, or his work of Stoic philosophy that would go on to be an inspiration for modern Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Marcus Aurelius's Stoicism was an inspiration for modern cognitive behavioral therapy — Marcus Aurelius, seen here not social distancing, wrote one of the foundational works of both Stoicism and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy during an ancient pandemic.

His work has had a significant influence in how contemporary cognitive-behavioral therapists understand what we now call cognitive distortions.

A cognitive distortion is a habit of thought that causes a person to have an inaccurate view of reality. Cognitive distortions can contribute to emotional suffering, and even to mental illness. In the case of a pandemic, the damage caused by cognitive distortions can be even higher.

In this article we will explore Aurelius’s quote above through the lens of modern CBT, and apply it to the coronavirus pandemic of today.

In pursuit of perfect understanding

Aurelius argues that “destruction of knowledge” is more dangerous to oneself and others than the dangers of the physical world — even something so deadly as the Antonine Plague (which he refers to as a pestilence).

His assertion is grounded in the idea that knowledge and environment cannot be separated. Any knowledge — or lack thereof — is not in itself more dangerous than the physical world; however, knowledge cannot exist outside of the physical world. Therefore, any failure of knowledge has the potential to add to the dangers we already face.

This can be expressed visually, in an algebraic equation.

Let’s say Aurelius’s plague has a ‘danger value’ of a.

The plague = a

If one has a perfect understanding of the plague — of its source, infection rate, mortality rate, method of spread, etc — then the danger of the plague does not change. Rather, the best-case scenario is that no additional danger is added:

The plague + perfect understanding of the plague = a + 0

Anything less than perfect understanding then has the potential to increases the danger value, as a lack of understanding may cause sub-optimal decision-making that increases one’s chances of suffering.

The plague + imperfect understanding of the plague = a + b, where b is ≥ 0

This idea, in a nutshell, is the underlying framework of CBT. What Marcus Aurelius calls “destruction of understanding,” CBT therapists today call cognitive distortions.

Cognitive distortions in a modern pandemic

Here are some common cognitive distortions, and how they may apply to the coronavirus pandemic we are currently experiencing. Keep in mind — these are just a few examples, with an emphasis on beliefs that may lead to under-reaction to this particular crisis. I have chosen to focus on under-reactions, rather than overreactions, because the former appears to be the more dangerous for this situation.

All-or-nothing thinking

We see things as black-and-white with no grey area or room for intervention.

“Either I get the virus, or I don’t.”

This perspective may make us less likely to use precaution, as we believe our fate is out of our control. It also fails to address the public health issue of when we become infected with the virus.

Fortune Telling

We make predictions about the future.

“I’m healthy, so I’ll be fine if I get infected.”

If we believe we will experience no risk, we may act more recklessly than if we take the more realistic view that any one of us could be in the unlucky minority who experiences serious illness or death from the virus. Further, any one of us who becomes infected may spread the virus to someone more vulnerable.

Always being right

We give our own thoughts and experiences too much credit.

“I don’t think this virus is as much of a threat as they say, and I’m usually right about this kind of thing.”

Intuition and experience can be invaluable, but neither may adequately prepare us for a danger we haven’t seen in our lifetime.

Emotional reasoning

Similar to the ‘always being right’ distortion, we believe something to be true because we have a feeling it is true.

“I feel that this virus isn’t as dangerous as the experts say.”

While our own hunches about the virus may (or may not) turn out to comport with reality, it is generally rational to defer to experts on important issues of which we have no specific knowledge — even when the experts themselves admit incomplete knowledge.

Selective abstraction

We focus only on negative aspects of an event.

“The economic damage of preventative measures will be worse for society than if we just let the virus run its course.”

Here, potentially negative consequences of preventative measures appears to be the foremost consideration, rather than potentially positive consequences.

Overgeneralization

We draw a broad conclusion based on limited evidence.

“The virus will disappear when a, b, or c happens, because that’s what has happened with past viruses.”

This conclusion could make us less likely to take preventative action, because we are waiting on an external factor to solve the problem for us. This could be disastrous if the generalizations don’t hold.

Personalization

We take other peoples’ actions personally, often by assuming ulterior motives.

“People in power are politicizing this event to hurt me or others I care about.”

This belief could lead us to minimize the information health experts report at face value.

Catastrophizing

We predict a negative outcome and assume it will be a catastrophe

“The world will never recover from this.”

This is just one of an incalculable number of possible outcomes.

No one has perfect understanding

Perfect understanding is an ideal — it is unrealistic to suggest that anyone can have a perfect understanding of this or any situation. The best we can do is try to minimize our information gaps and identify our cognitive distortions.

In this case, we can do this by regularly seeking out the knowledge and advice from international experts in public health:

World Health Organization — Coronavirus Disease 2019