Can Collective Healing Reduce Trauma After Civil Conflicts?

[Hazel]

In divided societies, trauma is not only personal but collective. Can public rituals, truth commissions, and reconciliation efforts alleviate psychological wounds, or does healing require individual therapy? How do communities recover emotionally when the pain is shared across generations?

 

[Shree]

In my view, both levels matter. Truth commissions, and reconciliation efforts can create shared acknowledgment, giving communities a sense that their suffering is seen and validated. That collective recognition helps reduce isolation and shame. But individual therapy or personal processing is still crucial, without it, trauma can linger privately even as society moves forward. Communities recover emotionally when both collective dialogue and personal healing intersect, and when cultural practices or storytelling allow each generation to contextualize past pain without being defined by it.