Trauma is the physiological and psychological response to deeply disturbing or distressing events that overwhelm our ability to cope, leading to profound feelings of helplessness and hopelessness protecting ourselves (or others we care about like parents or siblings) when faced with real (or perceived) threats.
When left untreated, patterns of disturbance which are experienced for more than 1 month after a traumatic event has occurred, and cause significant disruption in social and occupational areas of one’s life often become what is known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
To say the least, 2020 was a strange and chaotic year for us all. With the COVID-19 pandemic at the forefront of great challenges and change in our social, political, and economic systems, many of us were forced into an unfamiliar and unpredictable world wrought with fear of what’s to come, grief at what was lost, and uncertainty about how to navigate it all.
There are three existential questions all of us have asked or will ask at some point in our lives:
1) Who am I?
2) Where did I come from?
3) What is the meaning and purpose of my life?
These questions are extraordinarily complex and intricate, as they are unique to the individual person and are exceedingly difficult to answer by one’s self. The reason these questions are more challenging to answer is because we cannot answer them by mere thought alone.
Relationships are fundamental to the human experience. They are intrinsic to how we define ourselves and relate to the world. They help form our values, morals, and beliefs. They protect us from danger and provide for us in times of need. They form the basis for our culture, shaping how we communicate and relate to others.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, economic insecurity, and social unrest many of us are feeling on-edge and apprehensive about the uncertainty of it all. It is clear that many people are struggling with a whole array of issues that are driving them to seek help now.
Many of us feel more than stressed out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the associated job losses, social unrest, mask mandates, and lockdowns that have occurred over the last several months. We are filled with doubt things will return back to normal. We feel uncertain about our future and our children’s future. We feel angry and frustrated that our goals, dreams, and world have been turned upside down by a force we have no control over. We are scared about how much worse things can get and what “getting through this” will look like for us.
