The Nervous System Is Everyone’s BusinessThe Communal Nature of Traumatic

There are times of year (or month) when it's not just you who feels "off." Sleep is light. Patience is short. Conversations are sharper than they once were. People seem a bit more reactive; a bit more exhausted; a bit more "on edge," yet no one can really articulate exactly why. That's not coincidence. That's called communal trauma.

Communal trauma occurs when the collective experience of traumatic events creates ripples throughout an entire population. Examples include war; political violence; racial injustice; mass shootings; pandemics; economic instability; natural disasters. These events disrupt the collective nervous system and prevent it from settling. In addition, you don't have to be directly impacted by the traumatic event to be impacted.

Trauma Spreads...So Does Dysregulation

From a clinical perspective, trauma is defined as the body's inability to return to its baseline state after experiencing an event that disrupts its homeostasis. A whole population is susceptible to the effects of trauma when a large number of people are exposed to the same stressful stimuli (either physically or vicariously). In this case, the shared stress response can create a shared dysregulation among the population.

To understand the concept of a shared dysregulation, imagine a crowded room. If one person panics in a crowd, the entire room feels anxious and tense. But, if the entire room panics, every person's nervous system responds to the perceived threat regardless of their desire to respond to it.

As such, collectively, we see:

Increased anxiety and irritation

Polarization, black-and-white thinking

Increased rates of depression and hopelessness

Reduced emotional tolerance

A pervasive sense of danger during periods of normalcy

The above listed phenomena are not evidence of weakness. Rather, it is biology responding to perceived danger.

Turbulent Times Change How We View Each Other

One of the least discussed effects of communal trauma is relational deterioration. During extended periods of uncertainty, people lose the capacity for empathy. Their curiosity is diminished. They cease to ask why another person is feeling a certain way, and instead, defend their own corner of the world as though it was being besieged. From a clinical perspective, the prefrontal cortex becomes non-functional and the amygdala takes control of the nervous system. Essentially, nuance disappears and reactivity increases. As such, it's not surprising that conversations feel more explosive right now. It's not surprising that people quickly sever relationships. It's not surprising that acts of kindness appear to be rare.

You Are Not Fragile, You're Simply Responding to Pressures

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is: Being overwhelmed while a collective societal crisis unfolds does not mean you're weak. It simply means you're human. The risk associated with the stress response is not the stress response itself, but rather denying that it exists.

When communal trauma is denied, people internalize it as personal failure: "I should not feel this level of anxiety.""Others have it worse.""I need to toughen up." Denying the existence of communal trauma does not provide a foundation for building resilience. It provides a foundation for building shame. Shame fuels the fire of trauma.

What Really Helps in This Time

No buzz words. No clichés. Only the truth.

Recognize the environment. When you can say, "This is a difficult time for everyone," you eliminate the stigma associated with reacting normally to an extraordinary amount of stress.

Limit exposure, not awareness. While staying informed about the events unfolding in the world is essential, it is a far cry from spending hours per day scrolling through anger provoking social media posts. Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between immediate danger and reading about doom at midnight.

Prioritize regulation, not resolution. You may not have all the answers right now. You need some safe spaces; some places to rest; some embodied ways to bring calm back to your nervous system so that it can begin to think clearly again.

Engage in grounded connections. Not performance-based unity. Real connection. Honest dialogue. Shared quietness. Engaging in humanity without trying to "fix" each other.

Seek professional support when necessary. Communal trauma still affects individuals. Seeking therapy is not an over-reaction, it is a necessity.

Final Words At some point, history will label this time period and then move on. However, your nervous system is currently living within it. Therefore, if everything appears to weigh more heavily than usual, and if you feel tired in a way that sleep has not alleviated, take a moment to consider if you are blaming yourself before examining the environment, reading the room, and acknowledging the collective burden in the air.

Healing does not necessarily begin with finding answers. Sometimes healing begins with this basic, grounding truth:

"It makes sense that this is difficult."