Collective Disturbance During A Pandemic

By Jenni Kay Long, RYT, LCSW, ADS

As the coronavirus sweeps across the globe, we are collectively grieving the sudden deaths of so many people while attempting to care for the people in our communities who are sick. Most of us are terrified to leave our homes and many of us are tossing and turning all night worrying about ourselves and the people we love. One of the hardest, scariest things about being in the middle of trauma is that we don’t know when it will end. It feels like it is going to last forever. Questions begin to race through our minds: Are we going to run out of food? What if my partner gets sick? How are we going to pay the bills? Can our society recover? We are looking to each other, our leaders, and the internet to give us some glimpse of hope and guidance on how to get through this, but each time we scroll through our news feeds, we are met with the reality that medical resources are scarce and more people are getting sick. By definition, trauma occurs when a person’s internal resources are not adequate to cope with external stressors (Credit). Collective trauma happens when the shared resources of a community, nation, or global society are not adequate to meet the present crisis. Leaders across the globe are scrambling to confront and remedy this reality so that the imbalance between stressors and resources is healed. We live in a world of systems - an integrated, overlapping web of relationships. Our relationships with ourselves and with our intimate partners are embedded within our larger family units and close friendships, which are embedded in our local and virtual communities, which exist within the structures of organizations, governments, and nations. And all of this exists in relationship to the more than human world of our shared planet. In navigating all the implications and ramifications of this unprecedented pandemic, the words "collective disturbance" keep coming to mind. Sandra Bloom, MD, writes that a "collective disturbance is a common group phenomenon representing a profound disturbance in the communication network, unfolding when conflict higher in a hierarchy is being played out lower in the hierarchy” (Credit). She notes that while this is common, it is largely unconscious. When the outer rings of our dynamic web of systems are shaken or shattered, the inner rings feel the brunt of the disturbance. And that inner ring, where we reside, along with those closest to us - our partners perhaps, or children, pets, dear friends... that circle is where we, as individuals feel and experience collective disturbance the most. It's where the fear is vented as anger; where the overwhelm turns into yelling; where we find ourselves re-triggered by past trauma and spiraling through episodes of traumatic shame. This we then feel in our bodies through upset stomachs, aching backs, shoulders held in knots. We might find that we've begun to lash out at the people we live with - the few people we actually have in-person contact with. That we are simultaneously bored and unmotivated to do anything. Or that we are constantly thinking about a specific loved one, but can't bring ourselves to call them or check in with them in any way. It can feel so confusing. Some people are wondering, "Why do I feel so exhausted and frightened and overwhelmed, when I haven't left the house in two weeks and have done very little?" As we make our way through the trauma of this global pandemic and the related collective disturbance, we may have to remind ourselves to engage in the basic things that get us through both good and hard times, those things that cultivate and sustain resilience. Caring for our bodies through food, sleep, showers, and natural movement. Caring for our minds and spirits by allowing ourselves to feel the myriad of feelings, practicing radical self acceptance, and consciously connecting to community. All of the various activities below are intended to support you - all of us - in our journey through this collective disturbance. Together we grieve and together we heal.