Citation

Kalsched D. J. Anal. Psychol. 2021; 66(3): 443-462.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Society of Analytical Psychology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1468-5922.12697

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper explores how the deadly shadow of COVID-19 passing over the Earth constitutes a collective trauma that frequently opens up or 'triggers' un-remembered personal trauma, and it provides clinical examples of these intersections. The paper further explores how the human imagination, which we normally utilize to make meaning out of traumatic experience, can be hijacked by fear - leading to avoidance of suffering and to illusory formulations and alternative realities such as conspiracy theories. Alternatively, the imagination can be employed in more realistic and creative ways - leading through conscious suffering to healing and wholeness. Which path the imagination takes is shown to depend on the capacity of individuals to feel the full reality of the human condition in general and the exquisite vulnerability of our existence as fragile human beings at this moment in history. Ernest Becker's analysis of our 'denial of death' and his urgency to embrace our common human vulnerability is explored in relation to Jung's early tendency to deny the body. The author proposes that the more creative uses of the imagination, connected to a more humble and realistic apprehension of our common destiny, may be seen in the 'Black Lives Matter' movement that swept the world in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Language: en

Keywords

COVID-19; Coronavirus; Black Lives Matter; collective trauma; conspiracy theories; déni de la mort; denial of death; kollektives Trauma; negación de la muerte; negazione della morte; teorías conspirativas; teorie della cospirazione; théories du complot; trauma colectivo; trauma collettivo; traumatisme collectif; Verleugnung des Todes; Verschwörungstheorien; ковид-19; коллективная травма; отрицание смерти; теории заговора; 对死亡的否认; 新冠病毒; 阴谋论; 集体创伤; 黑人生命重要