Trust inside and outside the therapeutic room: epistemic trust, psychological functioning, and response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Epistemic Trust (ET), defined as the individual’s ability to regard interpersonally transmitted knowledge as relevant and generalizable, is a construct of increasing relevance to psychotherapy theory and research. Being a capacity that enables social learning and allows individuals to benefit from their interpersonal relationships, ET may play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Moreover, this construct has been proposed as fundamental in explaining some of today’s broader sociocultural dynamics, such as belief in conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy. Both the relevance of ET in psychological functioning and its role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic will be explored through two empirical studies. The first aimed to assess, in a group of 445 adults, how epistemic trust, mistrust, and credulity are related to other important dimensions of psychological functioning such as mentalization abilities, psychological symptoms, mentalized affectivity, attachment patterns, as evaluated through widely used and validated self-report instruments. Moreover, we explored if the relationship between childhood adverse experiences and psychological symptoms is mediated by the presence of a specific epistemic stance. In the second study, we investigated –– in a sample of 367 adult individuals –– how mentalization, defense mechanisms, personality characteristics, and epistemic stances influenced the response to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and if they played a role in vaccine hesitancy. The results of our studies highlight that ET plays a role in promoting or reducing resilient functioning and adaptation, both at an intrapsychic and interpersonal level. Taking into consideration such dimensions may, therefore, help us to develop tailored mental-health interventions and promote best practices in healthcare services.