‘Feeling Dead Inside.’ Healthcare Workers Battling COVID-19 Are Suffering From Dissociation
Blades, R, and Cheek, J. (2020). ‘Feeling Dead Inside.’ Healthcare Workers Battling COVID-19 Are Suffering From Dissociation. Healthy Debate, https://healthydebate.ca/2020/12/topic/feeling-dead-inside-the-hidden-cost-of-dealing-with-the-pandemic
“… PTSD screening tools typically capture the classical symptoms related to a hyperactive fear response like extreme anxiety, nightmares, hypervigilance and flashbacks. But these tools often miss the less obvious trauma symptoms of dissociation. The dissociative subtype of PTSD affects an estimated 20 per cent of people with PTSD yet often remains undiagnosed.
People living with dissociative symptoms are frequently unable to experience positive or negative emotions. “They’ll talk about feeling dead inside, feeling numb inside, feeling like a robot … or even not being able to feel love toward their children,” says Ruth Lanius, professor of psychiatry at Western University in London, Ont. These dissociative symptoms are more common in women, people of colour and those who have experienced previous trauma…”