Overcoming Collective Trauma: Creating a Positive Space Within Yourself

Shrinks Rap

Live from San Diego, It’s Jim & Rafael (together again)

People in every generation think they are the ones facing the greatest challenges of all time. Was the Holocaust, Civil War, Armenian Holocaust, Black Plague, Nagasaki and Hiroshima more traumatic than any of our current events? American sociologist Kai Erickson, author of “Everything in Its Path” and international teacher and scholar, Thomas Hubl, are both famous for coining the term “Collective Trauma.” They focus on the shared experience of the collective and why it matters. Trauma that impacts many of us on a collective level can lead to solutions on a global level. It can lead to collective empathy and alignment, e.g., how most of the world has united around Ukraine. Conversely, it can lead to a tsunami of dissociation, PTSD, Alexithymia, thought and emotional dysregulation, wars, factionalism, violence, and suicide.

Jim and Rafael discuss Rafael’s new office and Jim’s office envy. They also go deep by exploring contemporary trauma events on a massive scale, i.e. COVID, the war in Ukraine, the slap heard around the world at the Oscars, inflation, ecological disasters, and the fraying of our social fabric. Collective traumas impact individuals within societies and individuals between societies. It is affecting what therapists are seeing every day. There is a ripple effect. We cannot “unsee” the war in Ukraine on T.V. Just a couple of years ago we were collectively upset about cyber bullying, the lack of a workable vaccine, masks as a political issue versus a health issue, fake news, the election, cancel culture, hate speech on Twitter. Now we are wondering if Elon Musk will take over Twitter and the world and we are on our second booster shot. Now it seems like you cannot even watch an awards show - - without it slapping you hard across the face.

Yet, there is good news listeners. Rafael and Jim discuss how we can tap into our most vulnerable parts of ourselves and find our greater self. Yes, we can cultivate gratitude and kindness and still believe that good triumphs evil - - without seeming overly Pollyanna. We can learn to self and co-regulate. There is an opportunity for the collective (not just individuals) to become courageous, resilient, determined, and aware.

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