Already, the COVID-19 pandemic has left a deep mark on all levels of human activity and sentiment. As far as the best possible management of the situation is concerned, it is not only up to governments and experts in health systems, but ultimately up to each individual to act appropriately. Understanding the psychological background and the societal context is essential. This essential is also intended to make a contribution in the sense of joint and successful coping. This Springer essential is a translation of the original German 1st edition COVID-19 und Psychologie by John G. Haas, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2020. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically different from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

Bereits jetzt hat die COVID-19 Pandemie tiefe Spuren auf allen Ebenen menschlichen Handelns und Empfindens hinterlassen. Was die bestmoegliche Bewaltigung der Situation betrifft, liegt es nicht nur an den Regierungen, Expert*innen und Mitarbeiter*innen in Gesundheitssystemen, sondern letztlich an jedem einzelnen, richtig zu handeln. Das Verstandnis fur die psychologischen Hintergrunde und die gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhange ist dabei von wesentlichem Nutzen. Dieses essential soll im Sinne einer gemeinsamen und gelingenden Bewaltigung ebenfalls einen Beitrag dazu leisten.