Why The Pandemic Is A Collective Trauma And How Trauma Therapy Can Help
We have spent much of the last two years juggling feelings of grief, anxiety, and isolation as we navigate a pandemic that seems to never end. Living in a constant state of stress can be traumatic. While some people use trauma as a huge motivator to make the world a better place, the sad reality is that not everyone can.
The pandemic left people feeling like they’ve been treading water for years. Once their feet can finally touch the bottom again, all that energy they’ve been using to stay afloat finally releases. That is when we will first see the effects of mass trauma caused by the pandemic. Let’s talk about what you can expect to follow.
The Aftermath of Living Through Trauma
Instead of feeling the effects of living through one traumatic event, our communities have been combatting constant disasters like mass death, social isolation, and forgotten cultural ceremonies. These events eat away at the level of social trust and collaboration we need to create a healthy society.
It doesn’t matter that places are starting to open up and restrictions are starting to lift—people are confused why they're feeling worse than they did during the pandemic’s hardest moments. You see the light at the end of the tunnel but still feel stuck among the rocks. Your confusion is probably because of how we treat “trauma” as a society.
COVID-19 Related Trauma You May Have Experienced
One study shows that 30% of people with confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses continued to experience symptoms after six months. Some cases have even turned into long-term disabilities, like myalgic encephalomyelitis, which causes extreme fatigue that sleeping can’t improve.
Living with chronic illness is a trauma because of its constant-ness. Anything that affects our lives that often is going to affect the way you see and traverse through the world. Similarly, it is estimated that a third of people who worked in hospitals or were hospitalized from COVID-19 will develop PTSD from the traumatic rush and overflow of patients they saw.
Many people who lost a loved one to COVID-19 are still grieving—a process that can last months to years depending on the person. To put this into perspective, studies show that every death, on average, leaves behind nine close relatives. That’s nine people grieving multiplied by 580,000 COVID-19-caused deaths in 2021. Not to mention, most of the deceased never had a formal funeral, burial, or opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. Missing out on chances like this create long-term feelings of guilt or shame that later manifest as anxiety.
How Trauma Therapy Can Help Heal Mass Trauma
Trauma-based therapies help you first neutralize events in order to lessen the deep emotional impact. Once you can view the event in a less emotionally charged state of mind, you’re able to better reprocess and reorganize it in your mind into a healthier space.
Therapists do this by teaching you how to tune into your own thought patterns and neutrally observe how it affects your behaviors and feelings. If you struggle with feeling intense guilt, a therapist can help you realize that you already exhausted every option at your disposal. Now, you can only accept the event for what it was.
After that, therapists help you shift your perspective until your trauma becomes something that empowers you instead of inhibits you. Looking to get started? Contact me today to learn more about trauma therapy.
