Covid-19 battle fatigue
The diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disease (PTSD) in the
military began with pre-twentieth century militaries executing soldiers who
suffered from PTSD as deserters. In World War I, the terminology gradually
shifted to “shell shock.” In World War II, Sir Charles Moran, Winston
Churchill’s military physician proposed individuals had a supply of courage
that, once exhausted, left a soldier psychologically incapacitated. By the end
of WWII, the U.S. Army concluded:
The army’s experience with
psychoneurosis during the war had led it to two sobering conclusions. The first
was that even the most psychologically healthy men would almost inevitably
break down after long-term exposure to the horrors of modern battle. An
investigation by the army’s surgeon general’s office in 1945 concluded that six
months of continuous fighting was the maximum that even the “sturdiest and most
stable soldier” could endure without breaking. That is, the process of
psychological breakdown was actually a normal response to the highly abnormal
conditions of combat. The report quoted one damaged soldier who pithily
explained, “It finally got me, the noise and all. Never used to bother me, but
I’ve been slipping for a month. I guess I’m through.”[1]
Post WWII, the Vietnam War led
to widespread public awareness of PTSD.
Are persons, now entering their
sixth month of lockdown, with its disruption of normal human interaction,
beginning to suffer from Covid-19 exhaustion? Admittedly, the analogy with PTSD
is imperfect. The degree of suffering and dysfunction introduced by the
pandemic will rarely reach the level of combat related PTSD. Yet many people
are wearying of forced isolation, tired of having to hide behind a mask, and
frustrated by their diminished ability to communicate with another person when
both are wearing masks. Worries about the health of loved ones and financial insecurities
and anxieties compound their weariness.
Eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that
religion’s purpose is to cure psychological fatigue:
Oriental refinement, has it divined what emotional stimulants
can conquer, at any rate for a time, the deep depression, the leaden fatigue,
the black melancholy of physiological cripples - for, speaking generally, all
religions are mainly concerned with fighting a certain fatigue and heaviness
that has infected everything.[2]
What help can religion offer to
those who struggle with pandemic fatigue?
First, religion encourages a
person to the plumb the depths of their existence, confident that in becoming
more self-aware the person will also discover God (the energy, light, love,
etc., which permeates all existence). Relationship with the eternal infuses a
person with renewed courage, strength, and hope. Methods for plumbing the
depths are variously described in terms of meditation or prayer.
Second, religion points a
person to beauty, which offers renewal for the journey (cf. Ethical Musings Seeking
beauty in hard times).
Third, religion calls persons
to experience life as God's beloved and invites one to love self and others. We
are God's beloved. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Nor can anything we
do, say, or think alter our status as God's beloved. This assurance is bedrock
on which to construct a healthy, whole personality. In loving self and others,
we bring life to others and grow into our existence as God's beloved.
Fourth, religion teaches that
nobody is in complete control of their life. Accepting one’s lack of control is
essential for avoiding a psychological collapse from failed attempts to control
events inherently beyond one’s control. Acceptance connotes acknowledging one’s
powerlessness over such events as well as developing a peaceful, joyful
equanimity through meditation and prayer, contemplating beauty, and living as
the beloved and the lover.
Finally, religion offers hope, declaring
that the pandemic – like everything else – is not everlasting. That claim may
seem to have more of a foundation in science than in religion, but religion
emphasizes the transitoriness of all things (pandemics included!) and the
belief that good, not evil, eventually triumphs.
Carpe diem! Seize the pandemic
day confident that you can develop the interior resources to avoid succumbing
to Covid-19 battle fatigue. Find time to plumb the depths, appreciate beauty,
and discover the mystery who loves, liberates, and gives life abundant.
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