Considering the need for observing health protocols, the experience of the loss and the grieving process has changed in nature during this disease. Therefore, this study aims to gain a deep understanding of the experience of mourning during COVID-19 pandemic by exploring the experiences of survivors of the death of their loved. During COVID-19 pandemic, the inability to hold the usual ceremonies for mourning and receive the social support needed in this period, the relatives of the deceased encounter various conditions that disrupt the grieving process and may lead to the spread of unresolved grief in future.

Background: With the growing use of social networks, a large number of studies have investigated their psychological effects. Previous research has demonstrated that virtual networks, especially Instagram, negatively affect users’ mental health and make them vulnerable to mental disorders. However, the studies have been descriptive and provide descriptive statements; hence, they do not contribute to in-depth understanding of such vulnerability. Accordingly, qualitative studies should be conducted to delve into this phenomenon. Objectives: This article aimed to understand the key personality traits of popular Iranian Instagram users, assuming that the networks make individuals psychoanalytically vulnerable to clinical outcomes. Methods: Regarding the research method, the deductive content analysis was adopted for the data extracted from semi-structured in-depth interviews with users having > 10,000 followers. Psychodynamic diagnostic manual, PDM-2 second edition, and the structured analysis matrix were considered to make sense of the collected data. Results: The results demonstrated that the dominant key personality traits in popular Instagram users were narcissism with three subcategories (namely narcissistic central tension, pathogenic belief about oneself, and pathogenic belief about others) and depression with two subcategories (namely depressive pathogenic belief about oneself and pathogenic belief about others). Conclusions: According to the findings, the structures and categories underpinning our experiences by Instagram are inherently narcissistic. Rather than changing individuals’ dynamics, Instagram promotes this intellectual and communicative style inversely by normalizing it and reinforcing the narcissistic personality disorder established by the family and cultural structure of society.

Understanding the political and socio-economic origins of the psyche depends on examining hegemonic psychodynamics in society and their resonance in the mental space of individuals. This study explains the dominant psychic atmosphere of Iranian participants in the Iranian political and economic context. A qualitative study was conducted through deep interviews with 17 participants from both upper and lower social classes. Based on the results, it seems that through the encounter of citizens with each other and the dominant order, the implemented strategies lead to feelings of insecurity and precarity which loosen the social libidinal ties among citizens and hinder society from reaching integration and cohesion.

No abstract