Love in the Time of Covid: Reflections on Retaining Attunement Through a Period of Shared Trauma

ABSTRACT The treatment room for mental health practitioners has transformed drastically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the complications of moving therapy online further compounded by the stressors of a public health emergency and, in many cases, increasing racist rhetoric and violence toward minority communities. For many LGBTQ+ clients, feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and shame were already exacerbated by a contentious political climate in place well before the pandemic. No one was untouched by the effects of the spread of the virus; individual emotional and behavioral responses vary as we know from trauma research and the clinician’s subjective experience of the pandemic will likely affect their practice in several ways. Though each clinical encounter is uniquely affected, the intersubjective dynamics created by a shared trauma put an onus on the clinician to adapt frequently to stay empathically attuned with a client. This paper will draw on concepts from motivational systems theory to help understand a composite case vignette involving a gay Asian American client with a history of relational trauma and a gay white therapist. Motivational Systems theory will be used to help elucidate how the client may be affected by the current moment, the affected intersubjective, gay-affirmative therapeutic dynamic, and how clinicians can maintain their attunement to clients in a way that allows them to respond effectively.