The Effects of Collective Trauma

The Effects of Collective Trauma

Is our society sick? Gabor Maté, MD, writes in The Myth of Normal that normal mental health is a myth because our society is not healthy. “Today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two.”

Collective Trauma: What is it?

Trauma can be defined as what happens to a person’s physiology when their nervous system becomes dysregulated through life’s experiences. Chronic stress, chronic illness, poor mental health, trouble connecting with ourselves or others are often a result of ‘trauma’ and how it shapes the nervous system and thus behavior.

‘Collective trauma’ is the idea of expanding an individual’s trauma into a collective environment where it interacts with others’ individual trauma. Further, collective trauma can include the unhealed effects of historical tragedies and events that our ancestors experienced but did not process and integrate.

Overcoming Collective Trauma

Since 2009, the author’s work has focused on the invitation to embrace personal transformation and healing if we wish to create a better world. The corruption, greed, and dominance behavior so prevalent today happens as a result of collective and individual trauma. Addressing and healing this will create a better world.

Excerpted from: Joe Martino (author), The Pulse, a newsletter from Collective Evolution, March 28, 2023.