Isolation, Connection And Group Care In The Face Of The Pandemic

Curiously, when abandonment and loneliness seemed to be the epidemic of our society, we have to live this alarm and global pandemic. We all found ourselves dealing with lonely children, with over-busy parents.

We did not realize the approaching abandonment in which we were all dancing alone, without authentic networks of contact, and suddenly this crisis arises with its possibility of change. Suddenly, we are forced to live together, to relate, to look at each other within a safe distance

Emotions are also contagious: the importance of the collective

We share spaces and, in them, we share our states. Adults and young people are infected by the emotions that resonate in the house, in the shared walls. We have no escape, Either we calm our discomfort so that this healthy current reaches all the members of the house, or the home becomes a spiral of upward tension

If we adults smile, we collect our fear, our tiredness, our boredom, then something relaxes in the collective environment. We began to feel better and so did they, the children and young people. Then they smile, propose something fun and the atmosphere relaxes. Safety distance does not protect us from emotional contagion, emotional currents are regulated and redirected by adults

As mammals, we need attachment behaviors to calm ourselves and regulate ourselves. Acts like looking at each other face to face, perceiving each other as close, hearing a warm prosody in the other’s voice…they make us feel good, they fill us with security.

That’s why, In these days of confinement, group behaviors and networking become essential, since they provide us with visual information and voice sound among others. This makes us feel safe, safe in connection.

We have to take care of fear, that fear that floats in the environment from which our bubble of walls does not protect us. fear deactivates care. Care and collective connection are what provide us with security and calm. How curious we are. What a paradox we are exposed to in these times. Solitude and contact.

An opportunity to develop network, community and support despite isolation

We can always learn to manage that complicated emotion that is fear, lack of security. Numerous collective initiatives are emerging that make us feel part of something much bigger that goes beyond the walls of our homes. The window, connection of gratitude to those who are caring and fighting so that those most affected come forward, helps us to continue feeling like a group, a community.

It’s overwhelming to see individual and collective initiatives of help and support, which overcome the barriers and limits of buildings The applause and other displays of solidarity become group meeting points, which remind us that there are many of us and that there are groups fighting, supporting on the front lines against this invisible enemy. In the help that is deployed, we seek to comfort ourselves and convey the hope that we are not alone.

For example, From the EMDR community, the Children EMDR global Alliance has been developed, where therapists from all over the planet share resources. Within that framework I have written the story I don’t see you and I know you are there Coronavirus, and I also know that you are going to leave. The illustrations have been made by children of all ages from 7 to 70. In them they share and genuinely and spontaneously express their fears and hopes.

Furthermore, in Vitaliza’s Txoko It is possible to find samples of those shared resources.

At the same time, The EMDR Spain Association offers volunteering for psychologists and psychiatrists trained in trauma, to intervene in acute stress by collaborating with institutions that offer emotional support and detect cases that require greater help. Information can be found on the association’s website.

Conclusion

In collaboration and help, we become humanized and feel comforted as a group I hope that when we go out freely, without fear, the behaviors of collaboration and care, which suppress fear and particular interests, will continue to be present among us. I hope that when that moment comes, we remember what simple, simple acts comfort us today, feeling part of a group, of a humanity that is capable of caring. I hope that we are able to take care of each other and take care of our fields and seas, our planet.