The Impact of the Pandemic on the Imago Dei and How We Can End Well

In almost every possible way, this past year has been rough. Economically, politically, socially, spiritually. Pretty much every realm of life was impacted by the pandemic and all the changes and disruption it brought. But with the light beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel and cities beginning to open up in ways we haven’t seen since pre-COVID, it’s worthwhile to pause and understand how and why a year of isolation has impacted all of us spiritually and psychologically, as well as look at how we can end this pandemic well.

During this pandemic, mental health issues (specifically depression and anxiety), along with substance abuse, more than tripled (even more so with children and young adults, as well as communities of color). Apparently, we had a really hard time adjusting to the changes this pandemic put us through. As a mental health therapist, I have never seen my practice more full, nor felt so bad replying to the barrage of emails from people seeking mental health services, informing them I just didn’t have the space — or capacity—to take on more patients. So what was it? What was it about this pandemic that left us in such a state? Though there are, of course, many reasons for each individual circumstance, there is a common thread that can be pulled from it all: our human need for relationship and the impact of seeing the other as dangerous.

Humans are biologically, psychologically, and theologically wired for relationship. Throw humanity into a global pandemic, where being in proximity with another human being runs the risk of contracting a deadly disease, then of course you are going to find some issues pop up. When we begin to see the source of our (unconscious) livelihood as dangerous, we consequently invite confusion and fear into our body’s nervous system.

Hardwired into our body is a sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and a parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is our survival response system, better remembered as our fight, flight, freeze framework. Our bodies are constantly processing the sensory data of our surroundings and when it registers something as dangerous, our SNS kicks on in order to quickly make decisions on what to do in order to survive. It’s a high energy, high alert state of being. When our bodies don’t register any threat, our PNS takes the reins and invites our bodies to feel calm, safe, and at peace.

However, in the midst of a pandemic, where we internalize that any person we come into contact with may have COVID and therefore may give us a disease that could kill us or the people we love, our bodies begin to register other humans — even one’s we know — as a threat. With all humans being categorized as a danger, we perpetually exist with an activated SNS, seeking to avoid contact with other human beings, or even isolate. Though our nervous system is doing its job by assessing a real, possible threat and moving us to be cautious for the safety of ourselves and others, we run into a couple complications given our relational wiring.

Firstly, to exist in a state of constant SNS activation is to exist in a trauma state. For example, one who exists in a traumatic household exists with a constantly activated SNS in order to always be ready to read the room and do whatever it takes to avoid harm. There is no rest in a trauma state. And here, we have an entire society — world even — in a trauma state. You may have read or seen articles talking about COVID and collective trauma; this is what it’s talking about. You have a whole society in a trauma state, experiencing in their bodies the danger of the other, and we as a society are going to have to process through this trauma in order for our bodies to settle into the PNS and to feel safe with other human bodies and our collective society as a whole.

Secondly, humans are created in the image of a relational God (imago dei) and we are wired, at our core, to be in relationship with other human beings. We are wired to experience life in its fullest in relationship with other human beings — yes, even for introverts. Pretty much everything we do and who we become is based on and influenced by this pursuit — whether it be our ultimate drive for love (where we can experience the truest form of relational vulnerability and connection) or our own individual personality and how we relate with others (which is formed by a combination of becoming more of what we find offers us connection with others as well as avoiding the things that we feel run the risk of painting us as not worth relationship). We are a product of our innate longing for relationship — constantly longing for connection while changing who we are based on what we think will at least keep us in proximity with other human beings, if not relationship.

However, what happens to us when we avoid proximity? when our bodies register as dangerous the very thing we’re wired to pursue? Well, we’ve been seeing it: heightened anxiety and depression, a rise in suicide and suicidal ideation, and a Safeway employee laughing at me when I ask if he’s been busy during the pandemic managing the alcohol section.

Just because our bodies are working (!!!) by registering other human bodies as potential threats during a pandemic doesn’t mean our bodies stop longing for intimate, relational connection. But it sure does complicate things. And though we aren’t able to go back and change how we handled the pandemic (there are many ways we could have loved one another better: both by protecting each other as well as being intentional in finding safe ways to remain connected with each other), we are able to consider how to move into the reopening of society in an intentional and loving way.

With vaccination rates on the rise and cities reopening, opportunities to reconnect with friends and family are becoming more readily available. And this is great news! Our bodies are finally going to get the water they need after a year of relational drought. However, in order to love well and pursue intentional, healthy, mutual relationships in this period, we must recognize that the pandemic isn’t over — nor will the impact of the pandemic on our nervous systems be over even when the infection rates disappear. We must remember that everyone is coming out of collective trauma, having had nervous systems stuck in an activated state for over a year, and everyone processes trauma differently and at different speeds. Not everyone’s nervous system is going to move into parasympathetic settling right away. For some, it will take awhile for their bodies to trust that being in proximity with others is safe — no matter how strong the innate desire for relationship is. And if we are to “return to normal” well, we need to care for everyone where they are at.

Of course, some will immediately be ready to return to life as normal. And that’s ok! We just need to make sure we don’t force our readiness for normalcy onto others. Some will still want to wear masks at gatherings or in stores. Others may be wary of hugging. And others still may be fearful of getting together at all — even after getting the vaccine. It is hugely important that we allow everyone to come out of this pandemic at the speed they need. You don’t tell a survivor of trauma to “get over it” — because not only is that an incredibly unloving and selfish thing to do, you’re also increasing the time it will take for their nervous system to feel safe because you aren’t offering or embodying safety. And with collective trauma, we’re not only processing our own sense of safety with other individual human beings, we’re also processing our sense of safety with society as a whole.

Apart from caring for each other where we are at, by loving and supporting one another in this process (and the speed at which each person needs to take), as we feel ready it will be extremely important for us to start connecting with other human beings — to gather with friends and family and to invite our bodies to feel connected with others. Again, we must give ourselves (and others) permission to do so at a pace that feels comfortable to our own bodies. Trauma is not processed out of our bodies by forcing ourselves into uncomfortable spaces, but by dipping in and inviting our bodies to see and know that it is safe. And by giving our bodies permission to also dip out, if we need. Over time, not only will our collective trauma of seeing other bodies as dangerous be progressively processed by stepping back into proximity with others, our body’s innate longing for relationship — after the impact the pandemic has had on it by leaving our bodies longing for something it felt it could not have — will begin to flourish.

So may we, both individually and societally, love each other well as we come out of this pandemic and begin to breathe life into the imago dei within us, while also giving ourselves — and others — permission to take all the time we need.