COVID‐19, precarity and loneliness

Abstract

In this paper I discuss Jungian psychological work of the trauma and loss experienced in reaction to COVID‐19 with a man who represents a clinical composite. The issues of precarity, a concept used by the philosopher Judith Butler, are combined with the notions of lack and absence of French psychoanalyst André Green. The psychological and societal situation of precarity aroused the man’s childhood issues that were long repressed. The loneliness, isolation and death from COVID‐19 mirrored his personal and the collective responses to the disaster from this global pandemic. He felt on the edge of collapse as what he knew of his world crashed and he found himself unable to cope. The subsequent Jungian work taking place through the virtual computer screen was taxing and restorative simultaneously for both analyst and analysand.

Life is either a daring adventure, or it is boring: The impact of COVID‐19 on immoral and nonmoral risk taking behaviors

“…It is well established that COVID‐19 restrictions and quarantines caused more monotonous and psychologically aversive environments for people during this unprecedented time (Bösselmann et al, 2021; Boylan et al, 2021; Chao et al, 2020; Schwartz, 2021). For instance, in an online survey involving 1455 Belgium participants, Waterschoot et al (2021) found that the experience and feelings of boredom became more salient during the COVID‐19 crisis.…”

“…It is well established that COVID-19 restrictions and quarantines caused more monotonous and psychologically aversive environments for people during this unprecedented time (Bösselmann et al, 2021;Boylan et al, 2021;Chao et al, 2020;Schwartz, 2021).…”