Covid-19 and Our Emotional Life

Naturally, we are still in emotional shock, and coping with the practicality of Covid-19. At the same time, a deep layer of loss, anger, denial, and sadness on top of helplessness develops in our emotional world. Our psyche develops a personal relationship with a virus causing so many unnecessary losses, but still losses, small or big. Loss means that “the reality as I knew it has changed.”

How we cope with this emotional reality depends on to what extent we were open, or shut, to our previous non-virus related losses. Numbness of feelings; minimizing  "oh, that's not a big deal;" making the loss small: "I am lucky, others.."(you still have yours, even if you are lucky); " I have to..." leading to risk-taking behaviors; "I am not gonna let this s--t to..." out of anger and frustration, and the like emotional reactions to loss. 

Talking may not take away the loss, past or present, but then we are not lonely in it.

Yet, as they say, any crisis (and it is, of colossal dimensions) is also an opportunity!

Written by Shlomit & Herzel Yerushalmi