Abstract
Technological innovations and societal crises lead to a number of phenomena, which can be explained by the prementalistic modes of the mentalization model and its concept of “epistemic trust” or “mistrust”. Using the example of the pandemic triggered by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), prementalistic modes led to specific disorders of the perception of the body and of reasoning. These include belief in conspiracies (that chips were implanted in the body with the vaccination), denial of existence of the virus even in the presence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), failure to recognize the political relations (dictatorship) up to verbal and physical attacks on scientists. The latter reached its pinnacle in an opportunely discovered kidnapping scenario involving the Minister of Health at the beginning of May 2022.