We are not in this together: Psychotherapy and pandemic emotions

  • Zoë Krupka Cairnmillar Institute, Melbourne
Keywords: feelings and psychotherapy, pandemic emotions, politics of emotion, psychotherapy and social change, public feelings and COVID-19, public feelings and human rights, public feelings and lockdown

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to waves of publicly expressed feelings of fear, grief, rage, pride and powerlessness. Psychotherapists in Australia have seen an increase in their client numbers during this time when many others have lost their jobs amidst a public health response that has further entrenched divisions between rich and poor. These public feelings have been very present in the therapy room as people try to make sense of their experiences of the global pandemic and their responses to restriction and exposure. This article asks how psychotherapists can engage with these pandemic emotions in a way that facilitates social change and interrogates psychotherapy’s historically apolitical stance on the role of emotion and emotional expression.

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Published
2021-02-02
How to Cite
Krupka, Z. (2021). We are not in this together: Psychotherapy and pandemic emotions. Psychotherapy & Politics International, 19(1). Retrieved from https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/psychotherapy-politics-international/article/view/647