We are all in "collective trauma" - but there is something to be done to relieve ourselves

Life at this time in human history is a challenging task and it is no longer a secret.

Experts say we are all traumatized - but there is something to be done about it

Walla!

health

10/07/2022

Sunday, 10 July 2022, 08:42 Updated: 10:44

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Life at this time in human history is a challenging task (Photo: ShutterStock)

The corona shut us down in homes and damaged livelihoods and stability;

Endless rounds of elections cause many to lose faith in the system;

Prices only continue to rise while investments and savings are reduced - and all of these are of course joined by the security situation in Israel, which is never clear exactly what it will look like tomorrow or in a week and a year.

It's time to admit it - life at this time in human history is a challenging one.

And for those who think that the trouble of many is half a consolation - you should continue reading to get to know the opinion of experts on the subject.

Roxanne Cohen-Silver, a psychologist at the University of California, has devoted decades of her life to exploring how trauma affects people collectively.

In an interview with HuffPost, she naturally referred to the American public and not the Israeli public, but her conclusions can certainly be applied to us as well.

She says many people today suffer from what is known as "collective trauma" - and in an article she published with her colleagues in the scientific journal Nature Human Behavior, she warns that the last two years have added another new layer to this complex struggle.

The events of those years she calls "chronic challenges with a vague endpoint."

The implication is that no one really knows how much the condition will really get worse or when we can finally start repairing and healing.

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And if that's not enough, psychologist Esther Boykin explains that these traumas affect us even more than we imagine.

She compares this coping to a cold that is immediately followed by catching the flu and later also a serious infection.

"It feels like the impact of these events only gets harder as time goes on - because our coping ability is impaired from any such difficult experience. In this reality, we do not have enough time to recover from one event and another event is already coming."

People have reached the limit of their ability.

Woman having trouble sleeping (Photo: ShutterStock, DedMityay)

"People have reached the limit"

Throughout her career, Cohen-Silver has explored, among other things, how Americans have responded to dramatic and formative events such as the Sept. 11 events, Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon shooting.

She found that many people developed after these events phenomena that clearly indicate emotional distress, such as wakefulness, sleep problems, difficulties in emotional regulation and a general feeling that they are always "on the edge".

Now, she warns, complex events are evolving all over the world on an almost daily basis - and she's worried about how we all process and are affected by these events.

"Perhaps when we look at this period later it seems to have had a different effect than we think today, but I do say that emotional exhaustion is a reaction that we see clearly in our data. Everything that happens around them. "

So what can be done to improve the situation and deal with the oppressive reality in a more informed way?

Well, when you want to get better in every area - you should always start with an awareness of the problem and how it really affects us.

Compassion can of course also help a lot, even when it is directed at other people around us of course - but first of all when we give it to ourselves.

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Cohen-Silver offers in this context to all of us and especially to those who run other people - to be much more flexible these days and to understand that people can not always get the most out of themselves, certainly at this time.

Traumas, she emphasizes, tend to erupt during work, in part because of the set of pressures that characterize so many workplaces.

"People do not often share their personal challenges with co-workers - but the emotional consequences of these challenges may well be revealed there."

One of the most effective ways to overcome trauma is to create more space for rest.

In this context, we will emphasize that rest is not necessarily a pampering afternoon or an exotic vacation.

Rest can also be expressed in small choices made during the day - such as turning off phone alerts, disconnecting from the news, spending time meditating or exercising and not giving up hobbies that do us good.

This may seem like clichéd advice to you, but helping others will help you a lot too - and there are a number of studies that support this.

When you help people around you with chores, take an interest in them or just smile for no reason when you see them - it already has a positive effect and helps to paint our gray reality in slightly lighter shades.

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