It’s abundantly clear the world does not look or feel the same as it did two years ago. I’ve noticed that people tend to refer to time as “before 2020” and “after 2020”. With my clients, I have referred to the pandemic and quarantine as a global trauma. I don’t know if anyone has coined that term yet, but I have seen some reference to it as a “global mass trauma”. I would describe a global trauma as a catastrophic event that has affected the entire population of the planet in some way, shape or form. It’s something that has transformed life as we once knew it. 

I think it’s fair to say the pandemic in 2020 has done just that. It’s easy to say “well, it’s over. Just let it go”. When the reality is, it’s not over. And the repercussions aren’t over. If we take what we know about trauma and apply it on a global level, what do we know? 

We know that:

-everyone experiences trauma differently

-we all have our own grieving process to go through

-trauma literally changes our brain and how it can function

-we can be triggered by anything that reminds us of that trauma either consciously or subconsciously

It is important that we do not examine at our lives in a vacuum. The anxiety, depression, anger, and broken relationships that we experience all have been occurring in the context of a chaotic and uncertain world. In fact, I’m sure there will be studies done in the years to come on how this global pandemic has affected our physical, mental, and emotional health. 

Here’s the thing though, it doesn’t all have to be bad. Something I’ve seen as a therapist throughout the pandemic is that people have become more open and receptive to meeting with someone to address their mental health.  It has revealed that we all need someone to process our lives with, especially the trauma we have experienced. I think it’s important to acknowledge that this really intense and traumatizing thing happened. But also to see how we’ve overcome certain aspects of it and continue to grow as people. And most importantly, acknowledge and respect the difficult things that happen to us. I think it’s incredibly important to remember and validate our experiences, especially throughout the pandemic. Even if we didn’t lose anyone to the virus, we still have much to grieve, a major one being life, as we knew it. 

I would have never wished the pandemic to happen. In fact, a global pandemic was my number one childhood phobia. For real. I spent nights riddled with anxiety about the possible idea of a global pandemic occurring whether it was Bird Flu, H1N1, Ebola, SARS (the previous one, in Toronto) you name it. And now that I have lived during a pandemic, I will say that I have learned I am brave, strong, and resilient but also need help to process my intense feelings surrounding it. So please do the same. Acknowledge that you survived a very terrible and chaotic season of life but that you can talk to someone who can help you validate your trauma and reprocess it to live a fulfilled life, while still acknowledging everything or anyone you lost.

Lauren Puckett, MA, LPC