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Anima Mundi: The Epidemic of Collective Trauma

“Man was not made for himself alone.” —Plato Epidemic collective violence is perhaps the worst plague facing humankind today. I view states of collective trauma as a contagion because, if left unattended, they dominate people's thinking and behavior and propagate future cycles of violence. Communities trapped in trauma cycles often are the breeding grounds for severe social problems and chronic violence. Diagnosing collective trauma, as well as research and attempts at finding effective treatments, are in their infancy. Yet we know that the human and societal costs of such trauma are enormous, including that traumatized communities are vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by leaders with psychopathic tendencies. Radicalization and societal fragmentation have created dangerous situations in many parts of the world, including the United States. Epidemic collective violence is highly contagious; collective splitting generates enormous levels of raw emotional energy and has led, and can lead, to uncontrollable chain reactions.  This article explores the above issues in theory and practice. My case material is based on extensive humanitarian fieldwork in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. I offer what I call a non-hierarchical “rhizomic system's analysis” of community self-states, including states of collective violence and trauma. I find that the complex of collective violence, trauma, and social distress forms a stable self-propagating cyclical pattern. I describe how I evolve a container or temenos for the work, and discuss how I help traumatized communities renew and grow their capacity for curiosity and imagination by setting embodied action into motion. My longer-term goal with this purposeful action approach is to demonstrate that specific purposeful actions can become self-sustaining community-based movements of transformation.