How Everyone Was Transformed by the Pandemic
Lessons learned and the importance of post-traumatic growth.
KEY POINTS
The prolonged and uncertain nature of the pandemic provided time to reflect on personal values and priorities.
The use of technology during the pandemic has remedied some of the health inequities in parts of the world.
There is more awareness of social isolation and loneliness in older adults and people with disabilities.
Clinicians can help clients process the impact of the pandemic and its collective loss and grief.
By Evelyn Rappoport, Psy.D. & Robert M. Gordon, Psy.D.
Hrant Khachatryan/Unsplash
The long-term impact of COVID is beginning to be recognized and identified. The pandemic was a sudden, unexpected, and existentially shattering experience for many individuals, resulting in worldwide questioning of our sense of safety, certainty, and security (Hoffman, 2021).
COVID-19 at its worst turned the world upside down into an unrecognizable surreal reality that would have been unrecognizable to us even days before the shutdowns began. We know that trauma is an equal opportunity employer from which no one is immune (Rappoport, 2016).
Without exception, all of us have experienced some kind of loss during the pandemic─be it loss of family and friends, cherished places, homes, identities, or jobs. For those with Long-COVID and Associated Conditions (LCAC), there is the ongoing loss of their prior state of health. Perhaps the most significant and universal is the loss of the illusion of control, invincibility, and security. Our group addressed grief in our 4-part series on grief (2020).
We must face, accept, and learn from our feelings of uncertainty, while staying present with mindful awareness and intentionality. The present is both a foundation and a bridge between the past and the reimagined future.
Lessons Learned
The following provide hope and inner strength for therapists to reflect upon as we navigate the transition to the post-COVID world alongside our clients who have been in the same trenches as we have these past three years.
Humanistic and Existential Values
Clinicians have become more aware of and sensitive to cultural differences. We are all interconnected, and we have a moral and ethical obligation to care for others.
In general, people opened their hearts and were kinder, more considerate, offering helping hands to those in need including bringing groceries to those with more compromised health. Recognizing the presence of universal suffering often brings about more compassion and perspective-taking.
Early in the pandemic, O-Reilly-Landry (2021) suggested that we can benefit from looking inward and reflecting on what is most meaningful and precious in life through contemplation of such questions as: What do I most fear? This may tell you where your values lie. What do I most fear losing? This will tell you what you hold most dear.
Many clinicians and clients reported increasing levels of gratitude and appreciation for what had been taken for granted, as well as experiencing a deeper understanding of what really matters in life.
Studies have found that expressing gratitude for the positive aspects of one’s life protects individuals against the harmful mental health impact of the pandemic changes (Emmons, 2021; Feng et al., 2021).
Impact on Clinical Interventions
Therapists felt a shared embodied experience of vulnerability, fear, and helplessness and had a greater awareness of mortality and the random nature of events in life (Gordon et al., 2021, O’Reilly-Landry et al., 2023).
The pandemic has been a driving force in the increased utilization of meditation and mindfulness practices.
There is more awareness of the impact of social isolation and loneliness on all traditionally marginalized groups including older adults (Felsen et al., 2023) and individuals with disabilities.
There has been an increase in people seeking mental health services.
Several Long-COVID advocacy groups were developed where patients and family members are a vital component.
Technology
The use of technology during the pandemic has remedied some of the health inequities in parts of the world with marginalized groups who previously were not able to access psychotherapy, including older adults and those experiencing chronic illness and disability (Walker, 2023).
Novel digital technology allowed individuals and communities to connect on a global scale when in-person interactions were limited. Zoom and other platforms changed the paradigm of medical and psychological services.
There has been a dramatic international increase in creative arts therapy including through various telehealth platforms (Serlin et al. 2023).
Tips to Promote Posttraumatic Growth and Self-Compassion
Posttraumatic Growth refers to the unique transformative process people undergo in the aftermath of trauma (Tedeschi et al., 2018). It is a way of finding purpose in pain and looking beyond the struggle. Consider asking yourself the following questions and pausing for personal reflection.
What must I prioritize to be my most nourished, fulfilled, energized, and peaceful self?
What do I want to make more space for in my life?
What are my authentic values and beliefs?
What are the actions that have the most positive impact on my day and how can I prioritize them?
Who are the people that have had the most positive impact on my life, and can I connect with them better?
Compassionate care for oneself and others is an active process. Consider the following suggestions.
Make a list of the positive resources you have in your life including real or imagined people, animals, activities, and places that provide a sense of pleasure, purpose, and meaning.
Practice gratitude by thinking of one thing you are grateful for each day.
Maintain a balance between self-compassion and compassion toward others.
Ask yourself: “What have I discovered about myself through the pandemic?” and “Am I aware of any aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic that has changed me for the better?"
Concluding Thoughts
In contrast to the 1918 pandemic, called the “forgotten flu” when our country denied painful feelings of helplessness, emotional pain, fear, and loss (Alpert et al. 2023), clinicians now have the opportunity to process with their clients the impact of the pandemic and its incomprehensible collective loss and grief. This will allow for greater appreciation of the unexpected lessons of this unprecedented moment in history. To capture this aspiration, we consider the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world−that is the myth of the atomic age−as in being able to remake ourselves."
References
Alpert, J. L., Steinberg, A., & Laddis, B. A. (2023). Lessons learned from the 1918 “Forgotten
Flu”. In C. R., Figley, L. E. A. Walker, & I. A. Serlin (Eds.), Pandemic providers:
Psychologists respond to COVID (pp.19-32). Springer.
Emmons, R. (2021, May 5). Gratitude: The best medicine during tough times. UC Davis Health
Newsroom. https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/gratitude-the-bestmedic…
Felsen, I., Frumer, J., Safir, M. P., Farber, T., & Quaranta Morrissey, M. B. (2023). Vibrant older
adults. In C. R., Figley, L. E. A., Walker, & I. A.Serlin (Eds.), Pandemic providers:
Psychologists respond to COVID (pp. 75-102). Springer.
Feng, L. & Yin, R. (2021). Social support and hope mediate the relationship between gratitude
and depression among front-line medical staff during the pandemic of COVID-19.
Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 579-586. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623873
Gard, B. (2020) Grief and Loss: Understanding the process. Psychological Trauma, Coping and Resilience: COVID-19 and pandemics, Psychology Today.
Gard, B. (2021) The waves of grief. Psychological Trauma, Coping and Resilience: COVID-19 and pandemics, Psychology Today.
Gordon, R. M., Dahan, J. F., Wolfson, J. B., Fults, E., Lee, Y. S. C., Smith-Wexler, L., Liberta,
T. A., & McGiffin, J. N. (2021). Existential-Humanistic and Relational Psychotherapy
during COVID-19 with patients with preexisting medical conditions. Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, 61(4), 470-492.
Hoffman, L. (2021). Existential-Humanistic therapy and disaster response: Lessons from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(1), 33-54.
O'Gorman, P. A. (2020) 3 ways to grieve when your grief has no place to go. Psychological Trauma, Coping and Resilience: COVID-19 and pandemics, Psychology Today.
O'Reilly-Landry, M. (2021) Discover your personal meaning in the COVID-19 experience. Psychological Trauma, Coping and Resilience: COVID-19 and pandemics. Psychology Today.
O’Reilly-Landry, M., O’Gorman, P., Gordon, R.M. (2023). The Hospital, Health and Addiction Workers, Patients, and Families work group. In: Figley, C.R., Walker, L.E., Serlin, I.A. (eds) Pandemic Providers. Springer, Cham.
Plotkin-Bornstein, J. (2020) Making space for remembering while grieving during COVID-19. Psychological Trauma, Coping and Resilience: COVID-19 and pandemics, Psychology Today.
Rappoport, E. (2016). Tower of skulls: A totemic memorial to the Cambodian genocide: Trans-
generational trauma and the other. In J. Salberg & S. Grand (Eds.), Wounds of
history: Repair and resilience in the trans-generational transmission of trauma (Vol.
11, 1 st edition), pp.172-186. Taylor & Francis.
Serlin, I. A., Kuriansky, J. Gill, L., Graber, L., Worboys, H. Li, A., Villavicencio, Carrillo, P., &
Rivera, R. M. (2023) International somatic and creative arts whole person approaches. In
C. R., Figley, L. E. A., Walker, & I. A.Serlin (Eds.), Pandemic providers: Psychologists
respond to COVID (pp.155-206). Springer.
Tedeschi, R. G., Shakespeare-Finch, Taku, K., & Calhoun, L. G. (2018). Posttraumatic growth:
Theory, research, and applications. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315527451
Walker, L. E. A. (2023). Telehealth and digital therapeutic therapeutics. In C. R., Figley, L. E.
A., Walker, & I. A.Serlin (Eds.), Pandemic providers: Psychologists respond to COVID
(pp. 225-240). Springer.
Read article on Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychological-trauma-coping-and-resilience/202308/how-everyone-was-transformed-by-the-pandemic