Trauma, Stress, And Clearing Our Heads

Processing how the pandemic has affected us is important work

As a family member, friend, business owner, employee or employer, you have felt the uncertainty, worry, anxiety and stress of the pandemic, the lockdown and everything that has come with it. You have adjusted, made compromises, and tried to keep a routine and stay positive. Yet you feel traumatised. Or is it stress?

Psychologist Ilse de Beer says the distinction between trauma and stress is important to make, as the ways in which each must be dealt with, as well as recovery, differ.

“Experiencing a trauma can overwhelm or disable your normal coping mechanisms and can affect you long afterwards. In many ways, it can feel as though the experience has not ended. Left unaddressed, it can continue to exert an influence on the rest of your life, even leading to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” she says.

She describes a trauma as a sudden, unexpected, extraordinary occurrence that is overwhelming and often life-threatening to an individual or to people close to them. Traumas include experiencing violent crimes, a motor vehicle accident, exposure to suicide, sexual or physical abuse, natural disasters, being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, or the sudden or unexpected loss of a loved one. This kind of experience leaves the person with feelings of helplessness and horror. This begs the question: ‘Is it possible to be traumatised by the COVID-19 pandemic?’