The Psychological Aspects of the Crisis - 1st Session

In this episode you’re going to listen to the first talk of the series ‘The Psychological Aspects of the Crisis’ by psychotherapist Claudia Nielsen. This is part of the Contemplative Path Through the Crisis programme held in April 2020. Laurence Freeman invites her to speak to us about the psychological aspects of the crisis that we are passing through and learning from – and how this crisis throws light upon our mental and spiritual health in general. 'I think the thing that has most impacted me in terms of what is going on for people at the moment is the lack of control. I think you know we all like to have control as much as possible and we have now, at least in most Western countries, have been forced into seclusion, into isolation and, to a great extent, we have lost the control of our normal lives and we are forced in fact to find new ways. I think it’s enormously interesting what’s happening at the moment because previously, until a few months ago, most of the people in the West have been focusing their attention on the external life, on what’s going on outside. All of a sudden, virtually overnight, we have been forced into our inner landscape. It seems to me that, as every crisis, it brings an opportunity, and this is an enormous opportunity for a lot of people to actually go inside and become friends with themselves which is something that is quite tricky for some people. This can bring also about an enormous amount of anxiety because quite a lot of the certainties in life have gone for the moment. '