A Covid Impact Reassessment: Is the US Experiencing Collective Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome?

According to psychologists, the only way to recover from trauma is to recognize one’s condition. Is it possible the US and other countries are experiencing something akin to collective PTSD. Something doesn’t add up when reading about the current state of the American psyche.

The US stock market is near record highs, 401k accounts are near their peaks, wages are rising, jobs remain plentiful, and inflation is slowing. Even during the peak of inflation, people of all walks have been traveling like never before and dining out and going to their favorite concerts with abandon. Unemployment is near record lows, and many white-collar workers can now work remotely multiple days of the week. Interest rates are relatively high, but they seem quite normal to anyone over 40 for whom these rates were the norm for much of their lives, and who are now enjoying 5% or higher returns on their savings. While food inflation is eye popping, the Internet and alternative retail solutions have made it easier for many to lessen the pain. And, despite the high costs, more Americans than ever have health insurance.

It is probably as challenging as it has always been for young people to get their first homes, which is why so many have always received help from family, and yes the upward pressure on car and home insurance in many places are shockers. ?

But do these pressures explain a national malaise that seems worse than any I have seen including during the Great Recession, the dot-com meltdown, the recession of the early 1980s, even the Kuwait and Iraq wars? Not since the era of the Vietnam war and racial riots have we appeared to experience this level of apparent division, at least based on what one hears and reads.

The media and polls would have us believe that people are angrier than ever, lashing out against politicians on both sides in a phenomenon that is sweeping many western democracies. Their engagement at work is at historic lows as is their loyalty to companies they buy from. It appears that record numbers have become disaffected with the entire political system.

When I made the last of my Covid pandemic reports in December 2022 evaluating the accuracy of my predictions during that period, I admitted being wrong about my projection that the nation would experience a period of collective PTSD...It seemed as if we were truly moving past the crisis with a surprising sense of healthy resiliency.

I was right the first time. There is no better explanation for this strange dichotomy between abundance and disaffection than collective PTSD.

Symptoms of Collective Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

A blog by the health care advocacy firm Relias says collective post-traumatic stress syndrome is caused by an “an event, or series of events that shatters the experience of safety for a group, or groups, of people,” according to Leia Salzman, PhD, LCSW, from the Tulane University School of Social Work. These events are most commonly linked to community trauma are adverse weather events (such as hurricanes or tornados), mass shootings, and pandemic-level disease (such as the COVID-19 pandemic).

According to the blog, “All these events can occur unexpectedly or with a short time to prepare. The abrupt nature of these traumatic events and the destruction of life and property that they cause work in tandem to shatter a community’s sense of safety.”

It continues, “Collective trauma deeply impacts individuals on psychological, emotional, and even physical levels. The shared trauma of overwhelming adversity can lead individuals to struggle with symptoms like:

*Fear and anxiety

*Feelings of powerlessness

*Flashbacks

*Insomnia

*Hypervigilance

*Change in beliefs about life and the world around them.”

?Sound familiar? The result, according to the blog, can be:

?*“Heightened individual and collective fear

*Identity crises, both among individuals and groups

*Reacting to new threats with high levels of vigilance

*Combining the pain of past generations with that of the current generation, even if circumstances are different.”

Almost all these symptoms appear consistent with conditions today throughout many Western democracies, as much in the US as elsewhere despite this country’s remarkable economic recovery--on paper at least.

A Fleeting View of What Life Could Be

Do you remember what it was like in the big cities during the height of Covid, when most of us but the front-line workers were at home?? How many of you recall the incredibly blue skies...the distant mountains now visible from cities like New Delhi? The incredible quiet of no jets going overhead?? The speed with which one could now cross by car once congested cities? ?The gratitude we felt for our health-care and other front-line workers. The spontaneous evening expressions of gratitude expressed with song or banging pots and pans from buildings around the country. The closeness we felt with families and loved ones in those Zoom calls. The joy we took in walks in the country with friends and family. The pride we felt for our resiliency in the face of unprecedented change and challenge. Besides the millions who suffered from the illness or death of loved ones, many more millions revaluated their lives and careers, and made major changes for what they hoped would be for the better.

For many, Covid was a remarkable rebirth, a reshuffling of the deck of life offering new possibilities. Early on, there was so much talk of creating a more sustainable and equitable society, more understanding workplaces, more respect for front-line employees. As the pandemic receded, we returned to travel, dining out, sports and entertainment with almost unprecedented abandon, even during a period of heightened inflation. What looked like rapid recovery turned out to be a form of denial—forging ahead in life without fully taking stock of what had just happened to us.

The Shock of It All Going Back to the Way it Was

Well before the pandemic had begun to recede, this short era of goodwill gave birth to recrimination and anger. Political and other groups stepped up their online fund-raising efforts by sowing division and suspicion, playing upon fear, fulminating identity crises, urging vigilance against past or current “enemies.” An entire industry of everything deniers, advocating use of medicines for Covid that even their producers considered ill-advised.

?Once the balance of power in the workplace began to shift back toward management, the old breed of capitalism made a comeback. With it came rampant evidence of price gouging and shrinkflation, return-to-the office orders, swashbuckling business leadership, and a growing attack on government regulations affecting the environment and workplace protections by a wealthy minority of business leaders--culminating in the recent Supreme Court Chevron decision—manna from heaven for the nation’s legal community, if nothing else.

It's not just the politicians people are unhappy with. It’s capitalism. Ironically, Covid gave people an idea of what the world really could be like with clear skies, minimal commuting, flexible schedules, a spirit of unity and common cause. It took almost no time for it to all come crashing down. Employee and customer satisfaction have almost never been lower, about equal with the general dissatisfaction with government.

It’s tempting to blame it on politicians, but it’s an international phenomenon that suggests something broader, deeper, more fundamental. We have walked through the valley of death, and we are not happy with what we have seen coming out the other side.

Our Problem Is With Capitalism, Not Government

Our great affliction isn’t in fact government, it’s our jobs. Only the wealthy or people in highly regulated fields are seriously affected by taxes and regulation, or other government actions. In fact, people in red states are willingly giving up rights related to abortion, the variety of books available in libraries, or foregoing the easy access to legal marijuana in many blue states. Most of us anywhere can get the guns we want with greater ease than getting a car license.

For most of us, life at work has far more impact on our lives than government. It’s the dread of work, the lack of emotional or financial return that is now even more stark. It’s a taste of what a happier, more flexible, and sustainable world could look like, and how quickly it went back to what it was: congested, dirty, unequal.

The Relias blog provides recommendations to help society deal with collective PTSD, but the process starts with recognizing the collective nature of the event. That’s easy in the case of weather or even an economic downturn, but not so easy with a pandemic in which almost no one has even discussed the notion that the world is suffering from collective PTSD.

“Healing from collective trauma often involves acknowledging and validating individual experiences within the broader context, fostering social support networks, and seeking professional help when needed. Building resilience through communal rituals, storytelling, and advocacy can facilitate individual recovery and contribute to the collective healing process.

“Individual healing from collective trauma is a deeply personal journey that requires self-awareness, self-compassion, and resilience. Firstly, acknowledging and validating one’s experiences within the broader context of collective trauma is crucial. Recognizing the impact of the trauma on one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can help individuals make sense of their reactions and begin the healing process. Support from trusted friends, family members, or mental health professionals is pivotal to this process. These interactions offer a safe space to process emotions and develop coping strategies to manage any symptoms that individuals experience because of collective trauma.”

Because of political infighting, and lack of leadership powerful enough to rise above it, the country had no chance to undergo constructive congressional or other hearings meant to spark a productive, healing dialogue about what happened and what we could learn about the pandemic--not only from the point of view of science and public health procedures, but how we will deal with the pandemics of the future on the human side as well.