Grief and Loss Amidst COVID-19: Empowering Clients to Overcome Unprecedented Challenges

Brief Overview:

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the leading cause of death worldwide. New estimates project that the worldwide death toll will reach almost 3 million by January 1, 2021. Grief and traumatic loss during COVID-19 encompasses more than COVID-related patient death. Rates of death by suicide and drug-related deaths by overdose deaths have increased during the pandemic. Physical distancing and other COVID-19 protocols have engendered ambiguous losses including the absence of traditional/cultural rituals in the grieving process, abrupt separation from friends and loved ones, job and financial loss, loss of child care, the absence of significant changes in family roles and division of labor cause significant relationship strain, hamper relationship intimacy, and shift identity. Many who have contracted COVID-19 are socially stigmatized. The prolonged nature of these losses place clients at risk for complex bereavement disorder as well as other prolonged psychiatric symptoms and isolation. Dr. Bethea-Walsh will discuss…