I heard a phrase the other day that said, “You might not get Covid-19 but we will all get the psychological impact of the virus.” This got me thinking about loss and loneliness. This week in “Coping Through Covid and Beyond” we took a deeper look into the impact loss and loneliness has on our mental health.
Here are some common (descriptive not prescriptive) emotional reactions to loss. Anger/resentment, guilt, fear/anxiety, shame, loneliness and depression. Quarantine has brought up many of the same feelings of loss for many of us in this season together.
Compassionately understanding what you are feeling while also understanding that your neighbor is in loss as well and may react differently than you can be tricky. Anger/resent looks different than loneliness and depression but they are still emotional responses to loss.
Most often what breaks a couple up who are both dealing with loss is judgement of the other. When one partner judges the other partner for “not grieving” in the same way. Dr. Vivek Murthy says, “judgement demands punishment of self or other”. It is important as we experience loss as a nation to stay away from judging one another. Offering one another an empathetic response can ease the pain of loss and loneliness.
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