Pandemic Stress from COVID-19: Psychosomatic Support for New Forms of Adaptation

Abstract

The present work intends to describe a psychosomatic orientated intervention initiated through an online platform during the first “lockdown” in Italy and carried out through a “Psychoeducational Protocol” for COVID-19 pandemic stress adopted by SIMP (Società Italiana di Medicina Psicosomatica, Italian Society of Psychosomatic Medicine) and firstly developed by Dr Greg Crosby (International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes). In the immediate and short term, free support was offered both to health workers, exposed to great professional risks, and to individuals presenting forms of discomfort and suffering, in order to cope with the first phase of “Pandemic Fatigue” by teaching/learning self-help tools and activating or reactivating a process of acceptance of reality. The paper shows how the course allowed them to obtain significant results in facing an anxious-depressive state, process anger and hostility with greater awareness, envisaging new forms of adaptation, thanks to the acquisition of greater emotional and relational skills and, at the same time, with the representation of a different future through the use of imagination and positive, proactive thinking.