The terror of the disruption of funeral rituals in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

At the end of 2019, the coronavirus emerged in China, triggering a global pandemic due to its high contagion rate. Isolation and social distancing measures were adopted to contain the spread of the virus, resulting in significant changes to social routines. The need for physical distancing has significantly affected interpersonal relationships, especially during times of loss such as funerals. Given this, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic interrupted or made goodbyes and funeral rituals more difficult, profoundly impacting the way people experience and deal with grief. Mourning is understood by Psychoanalysis as the evidence presented by the subject in the face of the loss of a person or abstraction linked to it. Thus, not performing these rites during the pandemic generated difficulties in symbolizing loss, resulting in fantasies of fear, terror, guilt and pain. This study sought to study, through a psychoanalytic analysis, the impacts that the lack and/or non-performance of death rites caused during the pandemic period. The nature of this research is applied, with a qualitative approach, with exploratory objectives and field study procedures. Through interviews and data analysis, we examined how participants coped with the death of loved ones, the cause of death, and the experience of farewell lockdowns affected by social distancing. The results highlighted feelings such as stress, anxiety, sadness, helplessness, anger and impotence related to grief during social isolation. We observed a difficulty in the psychic realization of the loss and in the elaboration of mourning, highlighting the importance of funeral rituals in the accessibility of the irreversibility of death. It was concluded that such rituals play a fundamental role in meeting the psychological and social needs of individuals, emphasizing their importance during periods of crisis, such as the pandemic.