“Collective trauma refers to the shared emotional and social harm that is experienced by entire communities in circumstances, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, racism, and occurrences like the Covid-19 pandemic.“1 I don’t know what your experiences have been in the last two years but our family’s trauma through lock down was heightened by the termination of our secure jobs and the inability to continue study, work or even connect with certain relatives in the ‘new order.’ Is it any wonder that I have found it hard to concentrate enough to write my blog lately.
Wounds
Trauma is a Greek word meaning “wound”. A trauma is an incident or an ongoing situation where a person’s sense of security has crumbled. The beliefs that people previously held about their society, says Kendra Cherry, have been shaken or even shattered. There is no doubt that our world has gone through a psychological upheaval. Some of the potential lasting impacts on future generations can include:
- Increased individual and collective fear
- Damaged national pride
- Feelings of humiliation
- Identity crisis
- Increased feelings of vulnerability
- Heightened vigilance for new threats2
For some, in 2020 and 2021, the wounds were caused by fear of contracting covid-19 and getting the disease. Both the messages and measures were crippling. Masking, distancing, isolation and lockdowns took their toll, even more so those whose businesses were not considered ‘essential.’ Furthermore, those who couldn’t visit loved ones in hospital or in nursing homes at crucial moments in their lives experienced deep grief. Those who lost their nearest and dearest to the mismanagement of medical authorities, both from careless treatment and from vaccine induced fatalities have had their share of pain. Cancelled weddings, newborns facing a world of masked faces, adjustments to remote learning, as families were denied the right to education and free movement have and will have an impact. Besides loss of income the rise in family violence and suicide rates are immediate consequences of loss of hope. We await to see the long term effects.
Yes, our sense of security has indeed been shattered. Who can we trust? In my next post, I will discuss what people do when they have free-floating anxiety and try to regain a sense of safety in their world.
When the vaccine mandates were executed, another level of trauma was introduced. A certain percentage of the population felt coerced to take the experimental injections to keep their jobs or be a full participant in society. Others refused for medical or ethical reasons and were terminated and disparaged. Some who were pro-vaccine and pro-mandate were distressed that anyone would be so “selfish “as to refuse. Some who took the vaccine in good conscience actually died or were left with debilitating injuries or psychological damage when their injuries were discredited. Many have been left confused and distraught.
Discrimination
Discrimination and medical apartheid have become common terms to describe the world-wide situation. Inability for all to enter libraries, community centres, restaurants and sports venues, to name a few, has added to the societal wound. I know Christian families that excluded their “unvaccinated” family members from Christmas and Easter functions because of their stance. Some churches prohibited their members from volunteering, causing wounds, which I discuss in more detail in a later post. Jesus died that such barriers might crumble, not be erected. Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28). The inclusivity of the gospel is not compatible with the division caused by churches following mandates.
but excluding the unvaccinated
Trauma Duration
It can take years for a community to process a collective trauma, longer for individuals if it is not processed. Janelle Ringer writes, in “Understanding the Long-term Collective Trauma from Covid-19“, “While everyone may experience varying psychological effects, the greatest burdens tend to fall on the most vulnerable. Lack of access to resources and adequate supports serves to exacerbate this trauma…. Even when each group is fighting the same fears and anxieties in some way, Psychiatrist Melissa Pereau says the trauma can impact each group differently. “We’re fighting the same battle, but we may not all have equal weapons to fight back,” she says. “Trauma can be compounded when there is a build-up of multiple traumas.”
The chart below is not intended to be prescriptive but a prompt to stimulate our thinking on the issue of the progress of the trauma response.
Responding to Trauma
The following notes come from Andrew and Lynda Boutros’ lecture on “Emotional Health in Ministry”3. The Boutroses explain that when we experience trauma, our amygdala (the feeling centre in our brains) involuntarily hijacks the neo cortex (the thinking centre) and, in order to feel safe, we may respond with one or more of the following:
- Fight – attacking behaviour
- Flight – avoidance behaviour
- Freeze – paralysed when fighting or fleeing isn’t an option
- Fawn – people pleasing to stay safe
- Fix – anxious over-functioning, rushing for solutions
Signs of Trauma
Some signs that we have been impacted by trauma:
- Emotional – irritability, hyper-arousal, grief, anxiety, mood changes, feeling unsafe, numbness, fears
- Behavioural – sleep disturbances, isolating ourselves, substance abuse, nightmares
- Physical – headaches, ulcers, rashes, heart palpitations, aches and pains
- Cognitive – cynicism, negativity, inability to concentrate, confusion
- Spiritual – loss of hope and/or purpose, disconnection
Those who help the traumatised can experience vicarious trauma and will see similar signs.
Strategies to Minimise the Trauma Response
We can use our senses as a brake to minimise the impact. Here are some useful strategies:
- Notice and name what is happening
- Control our Breathing
- Ground ourselves. Here is one helpful technique: Identify 5 things I can see, 4 things I can hear, 3 things I can feel, 2 things I can smell and 1 thing I can taste.
Recovery
Trauma is stored in our bodies until it is processed. These following steps help a person recover and we can all learn to do these and find people who will do this for us.
- Believe the person’s story
- Validate their experience
- Empathise and reflect back to them their feelings
- Have support and referral options available.
Other helpful strategies include taking care of our body and health, limiting media exposure and finding a caring community who will show understanding and allow us to grieve loss and process the trauma.
The Mandate Division
It concerns me that because of the divide caused by the narrative (constantly being told certain people are unsafe), many who feel strongly in either direction, whether to be injected or not, can find it hard to find someone in the other camp to believe and validate their experience. Because the unvaccinated are in the minority it is especially difficult for them. This is exacerbated because it is happening on numerous levels at once – governmental, workplace, social groupings and especially in the family. Thus the trauma is heightened, not healed.
I believe there are few people who have not been impacted by the “Covid 19 vaccine” mandates. Many who stayed in the workforce have experienced depleted numbers and heavier workloads and those who refused the jab suffer the loss of so much more. The level of community grief needs to be reckoned with and healed.
Comfort in God’s Word
I felt alone in my experience, so when I read that Paul was alone in Rome at his first defence, his words were a comfort and a strength for me: “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear….” 2 Tim 4:17. Though Paul’s context is different to mine, I know that God stands with us in our loneliness even when we are in the minority. God stood with Daniel as he stuck to his decision to pray and go against the king’s decree. I wonder if Paul had Daniel in mind when he said, “… Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Tim 4:17.
God’s Word speaks to trauma. We need go no further than the cross to know that Jesus understands our pain. Misunderstanding, rejection, isolation, physical and psychological pain – he experienced it all and died that we might know his love and comfort through anything we might experience. God believes us and validates our experiences. We will find help as we look to “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:2
Present Help
We must not wait for the trauma to pass before we get help. We need help now. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Ps 46:1. I don’t believe that the trauma is over. We need a way to cope and thrive with continuing and new threats such as the war in Eastern Europe, the push for digital ID, unknown vaccine contents, the possibility of more bioweapons being unleashed on us, the immoral laws which are being passed under our noses that erode our freedoms and more. God longs to meet us now, individually, and through a community that believes in our story and is prepared to boldly face the future with us. I thank God for those who He has put on my path, who have believed me, validated me and prayed for me.
May God meet you in your time of need.
1. Rachel Larsen writing for “Choosing Therapy“, quotes Liana Tuller, PhD, Research Fellow at the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University.
2. Canetti D, Hirschberger G, Rapaport C, et al. Holocaust from the real world to the lab: The effects of historical trauma on contemporary political cognitions. Polit Psychol. 2018;39:3–21. doi:10.1111/pops.12384
3. Andrew and Lynda Boutros of True Success: Lecture on “Emotional Health in Ministry”, 23.3.22, Encompass Church, Bundoora, Vic.
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