You’ve likely heard of PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – but have you heard yet about PCSD? That acronym stands for post-Covid stress disorder, a newly emerging effect of the pandemic.
Increasingly, mental health professionals recognize that the global Covid-19 pandemic has wounded the entire world’s emotions. Our souls suffer from that trauma. That seems logical since millions have died from the disease, and billions are at risk, causing severe stress, anxiety, depression, and fear.
Do you feel it? Most people do, and it has led to a wider recognition of the role trauma plays in our lives.
The Impact of Mental Trauma
Many societies around the world have begun to recognize the impact of mental trauma, no matter the cause. Athletes who have recently withdrawn from the Olympics and other events emphasize the importance of their emotional health and well-being by highlighting the stress they feel. This is a healthy sign – their withdrawal from these events sends a signal that emotional health is more important than fame, medals, and trophies and permits more people to recognize their own trauma.
Medical science has made tremendous achievements in curing our physical diseases, but sadly we have little advanced understanding of the causes of mental and emotional ills. However, with greater knowledge of the brain’s functioning in the future, we will hopefully have a better chance of receiving the correct remedies for the myriad of mental illnesses and traumas people experience.
Humanity has long dealt with emotional issues at every level in every profession, but the general advice so far has been to “toughen up.” That approach doesn’t work, which means failing to recognize and then forcibly moving on through the pain and stress. Of course, to achieve a goal in life, one must expend effort, go through some difficulties and stress, and make sacrifices. The question is, to what extent do the limits of emotional endurance have to be pushed to achieve those goals?
We have made heroes of people who ignored extreme stresses and pains to achieve their goals, but few cared enough to find out later about the emotional and psychological cost of that course of action. What price did those people pay with their bodies and their emotional health?
Medicating Emotional Problems
One of the few currently available alternatives to just ignoring the inner pain of trauma – psychoactive medications – has helped many. So far, in our fairly limited knowledge of how to treat psychological and emotional trauma, the remedies have generally involved pills of different varieties for every disorder. In many instances, individuals consult professionals who prescribe medications along with their counselling sessions. Some of these medications work well, but others have significant side effects and may ultimately create more problems than they solve.
During my own work in the public school system, it surprised me that many of the students who could not cope with the system were given medicine to calm them down. Sadly, many of them behaved like zombies after taking those medications, which left them without sufficient energy or drive to accomplish anything.
The reality: emotional health is very complicated. Many experts are looking for solutions, but we have not yet progressed to the point that we know how to determine the root cause of emotional issues, so, in the meantime, we resort to medicines that may be band-aid solutions. Thankfully there is increased awareness in this field, and more books have been written, and more support groups are created every day. There have been significant improvements in finding new ways of talking about and tackling these issues.
So far, Western medicine has mostly avoided treating these kinds of afflictions with anything but medication. However, we need to further explore the spiritual methods and solutions for these problems, like counselling, consultation, and other kinds of more spiritually-based therapies. If we do not approach these challenges with the right tools, the present solutions may end up as good attempts but failures nevertheless.
There is no doubt that medical sciences have made significant progress. But it is time to face trauma and the emotional issues it produces with a new and different approach – to acknowledge that the root cause of many of these issues is spiritual, and then introduce spiritual methods to deal with them permanently. For example – we now have countless proven and effective methods of relaxation and meditation in every corner of the world based on some ancient philosophies, traditions and religions. New techniques are also being invented every day. Thanks to social media, they are easily accessible in the comforts of our homes.
Prayers are essential for any healing. Almost all religions have healing prayers.
Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. -Baha’u’llah
Most emotional problems can be remedied temporarily with the help of medicine, but the question remains whether they sufficiently address the origin or the causes of these issues. The future direction of solutions to mental and emotional challenges is essential for humanity’s happiness, well-being, and progress. We have to widen our horizons in search of the most effective answers, and that search deserves wholehearted and earnest striving on everyone’s part.
Badi Shams is a Baha’i and a mystic at heart. His field of interest is economics; he has published "Economics of the Future" and "Economics of the Future Begins Today" and recently written the books "Random Thoughts of a Mystic Economist" and "Towards a New Spiritual Economic System." You can find Badi's website at badishams.net called "Baha'i Inspired Economics" He is retired from the education system
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking at https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking
