By Roy Sadakane | October 4, 2025
Preamble: Naming the Distress
There are moments when the symbolic scaffolding of a society begins to fray—when stories lose coherence, rituals lose relevance, and futures lose clarity. In these moments, communities experience not just confusion, but a deeper kind of suffering: a symbolic distress that touches identity, ethics, and relational reality.
To name this condition, I offer a new term: Mass Existential Psychosis.
This term emerges from my work as an educator and coach, and is supported by a growing body of psychological and sociological research. My goal is to bridges symbolic pedagogy, cultural psychology, and trauma theory to offer a lens for understanding—and collective healing.
Definition
Mass Existential Psychosis is a symbolic-civic condition in which entire communities or societies experience a breakdown in shared meaning, ethical orientation, and narrative identity. This distress is catalyzed by existential pressures—such as ecological collapse, technological acceleration, historical erasure, or spiritual dislocation.
In this state, symbolic anchors dissolve, moral frameworks distort, and relational reality collapses. The result is widespread confusion, mythic projection, moral vertigo, and the rise of apocalyptic urgency or nostalgic idealization. It is not merely a clinical phenomenon, but a cultural and pedagogical emergency—a call to ritual, reflection, and symbolic reconstruction.
Evidence in Psychological and Civic Research
According to Gilad Hirschberger, collective trauma reshapes the symbolic architecture of societies, forcing communities to reconstruct meaning across generations. This supports the idea that symbolic distress is not just psychological—it is civic and transgenerational.
Kaitlin Wilmshurst’s existential trauma framework links trauma to core human anxieties: death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness. Mass Existential Psychosis fits within this lens as a mass-scale confrontation with existential rupture that destabilizes symbolic and civic identity.
Recent studies in Clinical Psychological Science show that collective trauma can cause temporal disintegration—a breakdown in the perception of time, continuity, and self. This aligns with the symbolic collapse described in this term, where communities lose their narrative thread.
In cultural psychiatry, the Coyolxauhqui Imperative reframes fragmentation as sacred and cyclical. According to Stewart, symbolic disintegration can be ritualized and reassembled through pedagogy, myth, and movement—validating the use of curriculum as a healing tool.
Seth Abrutyn’s theory of social trauma describes how collective pain becomes enculturated, shaping civic identity and communal memory. This affirms the framing of Mass Existential Psychosis as a symbolic wound that requires civic and pedagogical reconstruction.
📝 Authorship Statement
This term was coined by me, Roy Sadakane, in 2025, as part of my ongoing work to develop psychological understanding, symbolic, civic, and emotionally literate curriculum frameworks. While I’ve used AI to refine the language and structure of this post, the concept, definition, and pedagogical intent are entirely my own.
You are welcome to use this term in educational, civic, or psychological contexts—with attribution. Please cite as:
Mass Existential Psychosis, coined by Roy Sadakane, Educator, 2025.
Research Foundations
Hirschberger, G. (2018). Collective Trauma and the Social Construction of Meaning. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 1441. Read here
Wilmshurst, K. (2020). An Integrated Existential Framework for Trauma Theory. Canadian Social Work Review, 37(2), 131–148. Available via JSTOR
Grisham, E. L., Jones, N. M., Silver, R. C., & Holman, E. A. (2023). Do Past Events Sow Future Fears? Temporal Disintegration, Distress, and Fear of the Future Following Collective Trauma. Clinical Psychological Science, 11(6), 1064–1074. Read here
Stewart, T. (2025). The Coyolxauhqui Imperative: Dismemberment and Sacred Reintegration in Decolonial Psychiatry. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry. Read here
Abrutyn, S. (2024). The Roots of Social Trauma: Collective, Cultural Pain and Its Consequences. Society and Mental Health, 14(3), 240–256. Read here
🌱 Closing Reflection
Language is a form of stewardship. By naming this distress, we begin to reclaim the symbolic terrain. We make the invisible visible. We offer individuals and communities a way to locate themselves within the storm—and to begin again.