Stress and the Pandemic Part 1 - Bishop Joey Johnson

Understanding Stress in a Pandemic World

I believe relationships are everything. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has precipitated relationship losses that have precipitated serious stress.Psychology today noted that 714 patients, who had contracted the Coronavirus, in China, were given a PTSD questionnaire. The questionnaire revealed that the presence of serious PTSD in the patients discharged from the quarantine facilities was a staggeringly high 96.2%.

Unhandled stress can lead to PTSD. Stress is “The nonspecific response of the body to any demand” (Hans Selye, 1984, p. 74). Stress can be both positive and negative. Stress that urges us to go to work is “eustress.”

When we don’t make a healthy response to stress, it is called “distress.”

But stress has different intensities. “Stress that results from a traumatic incident is traumatic stress,”[1] which is “2 a : a psychological or emotional stress or blow that may produce disordered feelings or behavior” (Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary).

“Posttraumatic stress (PTS) is traumatic stress that persists following (post) a traumatic incident (Rothschild, 1995a).”[2]

“Though there are no statistics, one can guess that there are a significant number of trauma survivors with PTS, those who fall between the cracks—not recovered from their traumas, but without the dehabilitation of PTSD.”[3] The impact may only be felt in one area of life.

“It is only when posttraumatic stress accumulates to the degree that it produces symptoms outlined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that the term posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD) can be applied. PSTD implies a high level of daily dysfunction.”[4]

During the Civil war they called it They call it ‘soldier’s heart.’”[5]

“Veterans of World War I suffered a similar reaction, which was called ‘shell shock.’”[6]

“World War II veterans experienced ‘battle fatigue,’ which incapacitated them for further combat.”[7] “In Vietnam, an identifiable and prolonged stress reaction was identified as ‘post-traumatic stress disorder.’”[8] When a person is trapped in a situation like a concentration camp, s/he can develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

While there are several psychological treatments, the basic treatment is a healthy relationship, whether that relationship is casual or a formal counseling relationship. When the relationship is successful the person will internalize a new representation of a caring relationship in mind and body. The positive attachment can change habituated avoidance or fear of interpersonal relationships into a desire for healthy contacts.[9]

The most important relationship is with God.

How are you managing pandemic stress and the stress of disinformation or misinformation?

What are your strategies to understand the impact of stress in the midst of change?

#relationshipsareeverything #stress #PSTD #relationship #bishopjoeyjohnson [1] Ibid, p. 7. [2] Ibid, p. 7. [3] Ibid, p. 8. [4] Ibid, pp. 7-8. [5] Ortman, Dennis C., Transcending Post-Infidelity Stress Disorder: The Six Stages of Healing (p. 15). Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. Kindle Edition. [6] Ibid, (p. 15). [7] Ibid, (p. 15). [8] Ibid, (p. 15). [9] Babette Rothschild, The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, New York, 2000, p. 82.