The Psychology of Silence: Global Injustice, Collective Trauma, and Generational Grief
- Logan Rhys
- Jul 15
- 6 min read
This piece includes references to collective violence, trauma, and grief.
Please read with care and compassion for yourself and for those whose stories may reflect your own, your community’s, or those you have chosen to witness. You are encouraged to move through this post at your own pace and to pause if needed.
What happens when your pain isn’t seen? When the world watches your homeland be destroyed, your people displaced, your stories erased; and still, it turns away?
What happens inside a person, a community, a culture, when survival itself becomes political?
As therapists, we work with individuals. But trauma doesn’t just live inside individuals. It lives in families, in collective memory, in silence, and in the body. And in moments like these, where headlines blur into horror, and the noise of global conflict overwhelms the human voices within it, we see the deep psychological cost of collective trauma and cultural erasure.
This blog post is devoted to understanding what happens when human lives become invisible in the shadow of politics and how that damage reverberates across generations, across borders, and deep within the psyche.
The Trauma of Being Dehumanized
For those living in regions impacted by war, occupation, or ethnic cleansing, the trauma is not just in the violence. It’s in being reduced to a statistic, a headline, or worse, a threat.
There’s a unique psychological pain that arises when your story is erased, your suffering is denied, or your very existence is framed as expendable. In therapy, we call this trauma by omission; when what didn’t happen (acknowledgment, empathy, justice) is just as harmful as what did.
It creates a sense of internal exile. You begin to question not only your safety, but your value. You wonder if the world sees you as human. And that question can cut deeper than any border or bomb ever could.
What Is Collective Trauma?
Collective trauma occurs when a group of people, connected by culture, race, nationality, religion, or geography, experience a shared psychological wound. Unlike individual trauma, collective trauma fractures the very fabric of a community’s identity, safety, and memory.
Trauma doesn’t end with the violence.
It lingers in the nervous system of a people; through inherited beliefs, silence, grief, and chronic hypervigilance. Survivors may develop PTSD, but they may also pass down the anxiety, mistrust, and grief to children who weren’t even alive when the trauma occurred.
Generational Trauma and the Stories We Inherit
This is how generational trauma takes root. The child of a survivor may not know the full story; but they feel its weight. They grow up in households shaped by fear, silence, overprotection, or deep rage. They internalize messages like “Don’t trust the world,” or “Stay quiet to stay safe,” even if those messages are never spoken aloud.
And for children of displaced or erased communities, identity becomes complex. There’s grief for a homeland they never knew, shame for surviving when others didn’t, and confusion about who they are when their history has been rewritten or denied entirely.
The Psychology of Erasure
One of the most devastating impacts of collective trauma is psychological erasure; when entire populations are ignored, misrepresented, or silenced. This is not just traumatic. It is invalidating at the most fundamental human level.
Erasure breaks the chain of memory and belonging. It isolates survivors from the larger human family. The message received is: “Your pain doesn’t matter.”
And when survivors of war, genocide, or displacement watch the world minimize or deny what happened, it reactivates the trauma. It robs them of the dignity of being acknowledged for their inherent worth and humanity.
The People Who Are Watching
What about the rest of us; the ones watching from a distance? The therapists, artists, students, activists, and ordinary people; horrified by the images, paralyzed by helplessness, or consumed by guilt, yet safe in our home?
This is global grief; the heartbreak of witnessing suffering you cannot stop.
Clients describe it as feeling broken-hearted for people they’ve never met. They feel overwhelmed by compassion, disconnected from those around them, and unsure whether their sadness is even valid when they aren’t the one suffering.
Global grief reminds us that empathy is not bound by borders. And while it may not stop a war, it can prevent something else: emotional disconnection, desensitization, and complicity through silence.
Therapist’s Reflection
Some wounds are not individual; they are inherited, collective, and cultural. And some of the deepest wounds we’ve seen when working with clients, are not only from what happened, but from what the world chose not to see.
We believe in the power of empathy, in the resilience of the human spirit,
and in the sacred act of honoring those who have experienced unimaginable pain.
If you're living through the violence; if your family, your community, or your identity is under attack, you deserve to be seen. Not only in your suffering, but in your full humanity. Your grief is not a political statement. It's a reflection of love, of loss, of what it means to be human.
If you're watching from afar, feeling gutted by the weight of helplessness, remember that compassion is not futile. Empathy is not weakness. Feeling deeply in the face of injustice is not a flaw in your character; it is a sign of your conscience, your connection, your aliveness. It's part of what keeps our collective humanity from unraveling.
What We Can Do
Acknowledge the reality and suffering of others without looking away
Make space for the names and stories of those who have been silenced
Stay grounded. Honor your limits. Remain present, connected, and aware
Support the survivors; wherever you have capacity. Trauma heals in relationships
Make meaning. Whether through activism, art, conversation, prayer, or presence
Find ways to metabolize your grief into something that honors your values
A Note on Protecting Your Own Wellbeing While Staying Engaged
Staying informed and emotionally connected matters; so does protecting your nervous system. Witnessing trauma, especially through unfiltered media and social platforms, can lead to secondary traumatic stress or emotional burnout. Here are a few ways to remain present without overwhelming yourself:
Set boundaries around media exposure
Limit the time, source, or content type you engage with; especially late at night
Choose intentional witnessing
Follow a few trusted voices or organizations rather than doom-scrolling
Pause to regulate
If you feel activated, return to your body. Breathe. Move. Ground.
Use your emotion as signal, not overload
Anger, heartbreak, and helplessness are signs you care. Channel them where they can be useful
Be a witness, not a martyr
You’re allowed to rest. You’re allowed to step away. The goal is sustainable compassion, not self-sacrifice
Ways to Get Involved: National Resources and Organizations
Whether you're seeking to support those directly impacted, amplify marginalized voices, or channel your heartbreak into action, here are trusted organizations doing meaningful work across the U.S. and beyond:
Middle East Humanitarian Support
International Medical Corps
Provides healthcare, mental health services, and humanitarian aid in post-conflict Iraq and other war-impacted regions.
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
Delivers medical and humanitarian aid to children in the Middle East.
Refugee & Immigrant Support
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Offers emergency aid and long-term support to refugees and displaced people.
HIAS
Advocates for and assists refugees, particularly those facing persecution.
ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project
Defends the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers in the U.S. through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
Crisis & Trauma Relief
National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI)
Offers education, advocacy, and support for those impacted by trauma and mental health struggles.
The Center for Victims of Torture
Provides healing services for survivors of war trauma and torture.
Human Rights & Anti-Violence Organizations
Amnesty International USA
Investigates and campaigns against human rights violations worldwide.
Human Rights Watch
Offers reports, advocacy, and pressure campaigns to hold governments and organizations accountable for abuses.
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières)
Provides medical care in war zones and crisis-affected regions.
How You Can Help From Home
Donate to verified humanitarian efforts.
Attend local vigils, educational events, or peaceful protests.
Write to your elected officials about foreign policy and civil rights.
Share stories from affected communities to combat erasure and misinformation.
Offer trauma-informed support to those processing these events, especially in your local communities.
The world is hurting, but not beyond repair. Our presence, our choices, and our care matter; especially when things feel uncertain. You may not be able to fix what’s happening, but you can stand in solidarity, stay connected, and respond with intention. That, too, is part of healing.
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