In this health emergency, we have all experienced a new, unexpected and stressful situation, but perhaps also an opportunity to discover new resources.
As a research and training centre that has been working on Narrative Medicine for a long time, we believe that narrative is even more critical now to welcome the need to tell about ourselves and all our alternating emotions. From the many testimonies collected in these years, we know that for many people writing, for many people, a favourable occasion to share, to feel less lonely – and in this period of reduction of social relationships and contacts, this becomes even more crucial – as well as to find relief, vent, and feel useful to others living the same difficulties.
We launched the initiative ” Narrating COVID-19 experiences” in the first week of March when COVID-19 exploded in Northern Italy and before the lockdown of the whole of Italy.
We proposed a narrative track, structured over time, from Before the COVID-19 emergency… Then it happened that… I felt… I thought… At home… With the others… and I feel… I think… At home… For tomorrow… Writing has been.
From the beginning of March to mid-April, this research has collected 96 narratives: the beginning, then, and the core of the so-called Phase I. The research, which can be accessed from the project page, was addressed, through the Health Area website and social channels, to students, health professionals, and citizens in general.
We present a report on the first results: it will be interesting – also given the speed with which the context changes, day by day – to collect other narratives to understand people’s experiences, as we leave Phase 2, and in possible future scenarios, from cohabitation with COVID-19 to its possible eradication.
The report is available in Italian here.