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Benjamin LR, Wang SW. Coping, connection appraisal, and well-being during COVID-19 in the U.S., Japan, and Mexico. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1420327. [PMID: 39282680 PMCID: PMC11394185 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1420327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 08/15/2024] [Indexed: 09/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every facet of life, constituting a "new normal" and prompting an ongoing collective psychological crisis. People's ways of coping with the pandemic and corresponding well-being are of particular research interest; however, these constructs have largely been examined using deductive quantitative approaches, deficit-based lenses, and mononational samples. Methods The current mixed-methods study used inductive-sequential (QUAL → QUAN) approaches to explore positive coping strategies (approach coping style and COVID-related connection appraisal) and well-being (loneliness, distress, and happiness) across individuals from the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Qualitative data were gathered from N = 141 U.S., Japanese, and Mexican adults to examine how people perceived connection during the pandemic. Results Qualitative analyses illuminated common themes in which people appraised the pandemic as an opportunity for connection and strengthened interpersonal relationships. Quantitative measures, including a newly-developed questionnaire on COVID-related connection appraisal, were then administered to a separate sample of N = 302 adults in the U.S, Japan, and Mexico to assess associations among approach coping style, COVID-related connection appraisal, and well-being outcomes (loneliness, distress, happiness). Quantitative analyses found significant associations among approach coping style, COVID-related connection appraisal, and all well-being outcomes. Of note, these associations did not differ by country. COVID-related connection appraisal mediated the relationship between approach coping style and two well-being outcomes (loneliness and happiness). Discussion Findings point to approach coping style and connection appraisal as pathways for resilience and growth in the face of global suffering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel R Benjamin
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, United States
| | - Shu-Wen Wang
- Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, United States
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2
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Broome MR, Rodrigues J, Ritunnano R, Humpston C. Psychiatry as a vocation: Moral injury, COVID-19, and the phenomenology of clinical practice. CLINICAL ETHICS 2024; 19:157-170. [PMID: 38784822 PMCID: PMC11108749 DOI: 10.1177/14777509231208361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
In this article, we focus on a particular kind of emotional impact of the pandemic, namely the phenomenology of the experience of moral injury in healthcare professionals. Drawing on Weber's reflections in his lecture Politics as a Vocation and data from the Experiences of Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic Survey, we analyse responses from healthcare professionals which show the experiences of burnout, sense of frustration and impotence, and how these affect clinicians' emotional state. We argue that this may relate to the ethical conflicts they experience when they are forced to make clinical decisions where there are no optimal outcomes, and how in turn that impacts on their own emotional state. We then further examine the notion of 'burnout' and the phenomenology of 'moral injury'. Our argument is that these experiences of moral injury across a range of clinicians during the pandemic may be more prevalent and long-standing in psychiatry and mental health than in other areas of healthcare, where ethically difficult decisions and resource constraints are common outside times of crisis. Hence, in these clinical arenas, moral injury and the phenomenology of emotional changes may be independent of the pandemic. The insights gained during the pandemic may provide wider insights into the challenges of developing services and training the workforce to provide appropriate mental health care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Broome
- Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jamila Rodrigues
- Embodied Cognitive Sciences Lab, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Rosa Ritunnano
- Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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3
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Rodrigues J, Body K, Carel H. The pandemic body: the lived body during the COVID-19 pandemic. MEDICAL HUMANITIES 2023; 49:725-734. [PMID: 37620040 DOI: 10.1136/medhum-2022-012495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we conduct a detailed analysis of qualitative survey data focusing on adult populations in the UK, Japan and Mexico to address the following question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed people's lived experience of their bodies, other people's bodies and the world? We identify five themes: (i) fear and danger, (ii) bodily doubt and hypervigilance, (iii) risk and trust, (iv) adapting and enduring and (v) changes in perspective. We use two theoretical frameworks: first, Mary Douglas' anthropological work on purity, risk, danger and symbolism is applied to understand how social and cultural meanings attached to the body have changed during the pandemic. Second, we use the concept of bodily doubt developed by Havi Carel to interpret how people experience their bodies and other people's bodies differently during the pandemic. While we recognise the significant variation in people's embodied experience of the pandemic, our findings suggest there are commonalities that span different countries and cultures. Specifically, we look at responses to COVID-19 protective countermeasures such as national lockdowns and physical distancing which we suggest have reduced people's ability to put faith in their own bodies, trust other people and trust the political leadership. We conclude by proposing that the changes to our lived experience during the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted changes in perspective and a renewed focus on what people consider important in life from a social, moral, cultural and political point of view.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamila Rodrigues
- Marine Climate Change Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
- Anthropology, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Kathryn Body
- Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Havi Carel
- Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
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4
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Dolezal L, Ratcliffe M. Emotions of the pandemic: phenomenological perspectives. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2023; 22:1023-1030. [PMID: 38050579 PMCID: PMC7615345 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-023-09926-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
This article provides an introduction to the special issue "Emotions of the Pandemic: Phenomenological Perspectives". We begin by outlining how phenomenological research can illuminate various forms of emotional experience associated with the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we propose that a consideration of pandemic experience, in all its complexity and diversity, has the potential to yield wider-ranging phenomenological insights. We go on to discuss the thirteen contributions that follow, identifying common themes and points of complementarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luna Dolezal
- Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter, Queens Building, Queens Drive, Exeter, EX4 4QH UK
| | - Matthew Ratcliffe
- Department of Philosophy, University of York, Heslington York, YO10 5DD UK
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5
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James MM, Leader JF. Do digital hugs work? Re-embodying our social lives online with digital tact. Front Psychol 2023; 14:910174. [PMID: 37621931 PMCID: PMC10446483 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.910174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic led to social restrictions that often prevented us from hugging the ones we love. This absence helped some realize just how important these interactions are to our sense of care and connection. Many turned to digitally mediated social interactions to address these absences, but often unsatisfactorily. Some theorists might blame this on the disembodied character of our digital spaces, e.g., that interpersonal touch is excluded from our lives online. However, others continued to find care and connection in their digitally mediated interactions despite not being able to touch. Inspired by such contrasting cases, we ask if 'digital hugs' can work? We use the Mixed Reality Interaction Matrix to examine hugging as a social practice. This leads us to several claims about the nature of our embodied social interactions and their digital mediation: (1) all social interaction is mediated; (2) all virtual experiences are embodied; (3) technology has become richer and more supportive of embodiment; and (4) expertise plays a role. These claims help make the case that quality social connections online are substantially dependent upon the dynamic skilful resourcing of multiple mediating components, what we term digital tact. By introducing and developing this concept, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of our digital embodied sociality and the possibilities for caring connections online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark M. James
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - John Francis Leader
- Media and Entertainment Psychology Lab, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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6
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James M, Koshkina N, Froese T. From tech to tact: emotion dysregulation in online communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2023:1-32. [PMID: 37363715 PMCID: PMC10233186 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-023-09916-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Recent theorizing argues that online communication technologies provide powerful, although precarious, means of emotional regulation. We develop this understanding further. Drawing on subjective reports collected during periods of imposed social restrictions under COVID-19, we focus on how this precarity is a source of emotional dysregulation. We make our case by organizing responses into five distinct but intersecting dimensions wherein the precarity of this regulation is most relevant: infrastructure, functional use, mindful design (individual and social), and digital tact. Analyzing these reports, along with examples of mediating technologies (i.e., self-view) and common interactive dynamics (e.g., gaze coordination), we tease out how breakdowns along these dimensions are sources of affective dysregulation. We argue that the adequacy of available technological resources and competencies of various kinds matter greatly to the types of emotional experiences one is likely to have online. Further research into online communication technologies as modulators of both our individual and collective well-being is urgently needed, especially as the echoes of the digital push that COVID-19 initiated are set to continue reverberating into the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark James
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Okinawa, 904-0495 Japan
| | - Natalia Koshkina
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Okinawa, 904-0495 Japan
| | - Tom Froese
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Okinawa, 904-0495 Japan
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7
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Bortolan A. Healing online? Social anxiety and emotion regulation in pandemic experience. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2023:1-20. [PMID: 37363714 PMCID: PMC9969036 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-023-09886-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
During the pandemic of Covid-19, internet-based communication became for many the primary, or only, means of interaction with others, and it has been argued that this had a host of negative effects on emotional and mental health. However, some people with a lived experience of mental ill-health also perceived improvements to their wellbeing during the period in which social activities were moved online. In this paper, I explore the possibility that some of these improvements are due to the partial "disembodiment" of emotions facilitated by internet-mediated interaction. In particular, I consider the phenomenology of social anxiety and how it may be impacted upon by encountering others primarily through the medium of internet-enabled technology. I will start by reconstructing a phenomenological account of social anxiety to which disruptions of bodily experience are central. I will then move to consider how the experiential dynamics that are particularly prominent in social anxiety can be weakened when communicating with others via video calls, instant messages, and social media more broadly. I will suggest that this is the case due to the diminished visibility of the body online, and the higher degree of control and agency over one's experience that can be exercised in this context. Finally, I will argue that the weakening of social anxiety through internet-mediated contact exemplifies some of the processes which are key to emotion regulation more widely, thus suggesting that communication and interaction online could have a positive effect on a wider range of affective disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Bortolan
- Department of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea,, SA2 8PP UK
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8
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Hughes E. Meaninglessness and monotony in pandemic boredom. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2023; 22:1-15. [PMID: 36713814 PMCID: PMC9857899 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-023-09888-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Boredom is an affective experience that can involve pervasive feelings of meaninglessness, emptiness, restlessness, frustration, weariness and indifference, as well as the slowing down of time. An increasing focus of research in many disciplines, interest in boredom has been intensified by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, where social distancing measures have induced both a widespread loss of meaning and a significant disturbance of temporal experience. This article explores the philosophical significance of this aversive experience of 'pandemic boredom.' Using Heidegger's work as a unique vantage point, this article draws on survey data collected by researchers in an ongoing project titled 'Experiences of Social Distancing During the Covid-19 Pandemic' to give an original phenomenological interpretation of the meaninglessness and monotony of pandemic boredom. On a Heideggerian interpretation, pandemic boredom involves either a situative confrontation with relative meaninglessness that upholds our absorption in the everyday world, or an existential confrontation with absolute meaninglessness that forces us to take up the question of our existence. Arguing that boredom during the pandemic makes this distinction difficult to sustain, I consider some of the ways in which pandemic boredom might be seen to expose and then exceed the distinctive methodological limitations of Heidegger's philosophical interpretation of boredom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Hughes
- Department of Philosophy, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
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Tietjen RR. Feeling and performing 'the crisis': on the affective phenomenology and politics of the corona crisis. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2023; 22:1-19. [PMID: 36686272 PMCID: PMC9847443 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-022-09877-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
How does it feel to be in a crisis? Is the idea of the crisis itself bound to our affectivity in the sense that without the occurrence of specific emotions or a change in our affective lives at large we cannot even talk about a crisis properly speaking? In this paper, I explore these questions by analyzing the exemplary case of the corona crisis. In order to do so, I first explore the affective phenomenology of crises in general and the corona crisis in particular, thereby paying attention to both individual (personal) and collective (socio-political) crises and crisis experiences. Then, I turn to the limits of the analogy between individual and collective crises. I reflect on how socio-political crises are not simply there but performed and procedurally constructed and show how, in the context of the corona pandemic, fears and hopes, feelings of solidarity and antagonistic emotions mirror political interests and values. While the phenomenological reflections in the first part help us to account for the fact that crises are not just objective facts but also subjective forms of experience, the political reflections in the second part help us to do justice to the inherently political nature of the language and experiences of (collective) crises. I conclude by pointing out a twofold relationship between (socio-political) crisis and critique. Thanks to their characteristic affective phenomenology, crises are tools of criticism; but due to their inherently political character, they also themselves have to be subjected to critique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Rebecca Tietjen
- Department of Philosophy, Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
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10
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Richardson L, Millar B. Grief and the non-death losses of Covid-19. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2022; 22:1-17. [PMID: 36570817 PMCID: PMC9768768 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-022-09878-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Articles in the popular media and testimonies collected in empirical work suggest that many people who have not been bereaved have nevertheless grieved over pandemic-related losses of various kinds. There is a philosophical question about whether any experience of a non-death loss ought to count as grief, hinging upon how the object of grief is construed. However, even if one accepts that certain significant non-death losses are possible targets of grief, many reported cases of putative pandemic-related grief may appear less plausible. For instance, it might be argued that many of these losses are temporary or minor and therefore unlikely to be grieved, and that the associated experiences are phenomenologically dissimilar to grief. In this article, as well as discussing the more general question about the coherence of the idea of non-bereavement grief, we address these obstacles to taking reports of pandemic non-bereavement grief to be literal and true. In particular, we argue that some may have experienced grief over even apparently minor losses during the pandemic. This is generally so, we suggest, only insofar as experiences of such losses form part of an overarching grief process directed at some broader significant loss. Thus, we cast light on both the nature of non-bereavement grief and the kinds of disruption and loss experienced during the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Becky Millar
- Department of Philosophy, University of York, YO10 5DD York, UK
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11
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Namdar Areshtanab H, Hosseinzadeh M, Vahidi M, Hurst SK, Soheili S. It's all not negative: a cross-section study on the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on Iranian population. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:2297. [PMID: 36482432 PMCID: PMC9733052 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14777-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Covid-19 has had significant effects on the quality of life of individuals around the world. Research highlights many negative impacts related to Covid-19; however, there are also potential positive impacts. The current study aimed to identify both the perceived negative and positive effects of Covid-19 among the residents of Tabriz, Iran. MATERIALS & METHODS The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 health centers in Tabriz city in 2021. Cluster random sampling was used to select the 861 study participants. A questionnaire was developed to collect demographic and Covid-19 impacts. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 16 software. RESULTS The mean (SD) of negative and positive impacts of Covid-19 was 37.7 (5.10) and 36.35 (5.31), respectively. Significant negative impacts included restriction in participation in cultural (90.4%) and religious (88.9%) activities. Positive impacts were increased attention to personal hygiene (88.7%) and attention to elders (87.6%). Gender (p = 0.006), work status (p = 0.004) and age (p = 0. 01) had significant association with the mean of negative impacts and work status (p = 0.01), age (p < 0.001), history of Covid-19 (p = 0.01) and family history of Covid-19 (p < 0.001) had the significant association with the mean of positive impacts of Covid-19. CONCLUSION The findings revealed that the general population experienced many negative impacts of Covid-19. This may be related to the priority of religious gatherings in Iranian culture. Despite the unfavorable effects of Covid-19, its positive effects and post-traumatic growth should not be ignored. Covid-19 may be used as an opportunity to develop personal growth and a positive outlook on life. Healthcare workers should reinforce the positive impacts of Covid-19 while taking into consideration the importance of spirituality among Iranian individuals during times of community lockdowns.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mina Hosseinzadeh
- Department of Community Health Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
| | - Maryam Vahidi
- Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
| | | | - Soraya Soheili
- Department of Nursing, Marand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran
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James MM, Rodrigues J, Montoya M, Koshkina N, Sangati F, Sangati E, Ratcliffe M, Carel H, Froese T. The Pandemic Experience Survey II: A Second Corpus of Subject Reports of Life Under Social Restrictions During COVID-19 in the UK, Japan, and Mexico. Front Public Health 2022; 10:913096. [PMID: 36091518 PMCID: PMC9449414 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.913096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mark M. James
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Jamila Rodrigues
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Morgan Montoya
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Natalia Koshkina
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Federico Sangati
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | - Ekaterina Sangati
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
| | | | - Havi Carel
- Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Tom Froese
- Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
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Ratcliffe M. Phenomenological reflections on grief during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES 2022; 22:1-19. [PMID: 35915779 PMCID: PMC9330969 DOI: 10.1007/s11097-022-09840-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This paper addresses how and why social restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected people's experiences of grief. To do so, I adopt a broadly phenomenological approach, one that emphasizes how our experiences, thoughts, and activities are shaped by relations with other people. Drawing on first-person accounts of grief during the pandemic, I identify two principal (and overlapping) themes: (a) deprivation and disruption of interpersonal processes that play important roles in comprehending and adapting to bereavement; (b) disturbance of an experiential world in the context of which loss is more usually recognized and negotiated. The combination, I suggest, can amount to a sort of "grief within grief", involving a sense of stasis consistent with clinical descriptions of prolonged grief disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Ratcliffe
- Department of Philosophy, University of York, YO10 5DD Heslington York, UK
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14
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Ciaunica A, McEllin L, Kiverstein J, Gallese V, Hohwy J, Woźniak M. Zoomed out: digital media use and depersonalization experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3888. [PMID: 35273200 PMCID: PMC8913838 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07657-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Depersonalisation is a common dissociative experience characterised by distressing feelings of being detached or 'estranged' from one's self and body and/or the world. The COVID-19 pandemic forcing millions of people to socially distance themselves from others and to change their lifestyle habits. We have conducted an online study of 622 participants worldwide to investigate the relationship between digital media-based activities, distal social interactions and peoples' sense of self during the lockdown as contrasted with before the pandemic. We found that increased use of digital media-based activities and online social e-meetings correlated with higher feelings of depersonalisation. We also found that the participants reporting higher experiences of depersonalisation, also reported enhanced vividness of negative emotions (as opposed to positive emotions). Finally, participants who reported that lockdown influenced their life to a greater extent had higher occurrences of depersonalisation experiences. Our findings may help to address key questions regarding well-being during a lockdown, in the general population. Our study points to potential risks related to overly sedentary, and hyper-digitalised lifestyle habits that may induce feelings of living in one's 'head' (mind), disconnected from one's body, self and the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Ciaunica
- Centre for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal.
- Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto, via Panoramica s/n, 4150-564, Porto, Portugal.
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
| | - Luke McEllin
- University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
- Department of Cognitive Science, Social Mind Center, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Julian Kiverstein
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43121, Parma, Italy
| | - Jakob Hohwy
- Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Mateusz Woźniak
- Department of Cognitive Science, Social Mind Center, Central European University, Vienna, Austria.
- Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
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